Timeline Algeria
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Berber Chronology: http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data/algberbchro.htm
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ag.html
History: http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/algeria/algeria10.html
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Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Algeria
Algeria sits on top of some 3,000 sq. km. of oil.
(SFC, 12/30/96, p.B1)
Berbers make up 25% of the population.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
4000BC-2500BC
A rock painting from this time in Tassili n'Ajjer, southeastern
Algeria, illustrates a battle between 2 prehistoric groups armed
with bows and arrows.
(NH, Jul, p.29)
218BC-201BC Numidia, ancient Roman name for part
of northern Africa roughly equivalent to modern Algeria. In the
Second Punic War (218-201 BC) between Carthage and Rome, western
Numidia supported Carthage. King Masinissa of eastern Numidia joined
the Romans. With the victory of Rome, Masinissa controlled all
Numidia.
(WWW, Encarta, 12/19/98)
105BC The heart of ancient
Numidia lay in the eastern region of what is now Algeria in Northern
Africa. The Numidians were originally nomadic horsemen. They were
defeated by Roman troops in the Jugurthine War in 105 BC and
conquered by Rome in 46 BC. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled
successively before Arabs conquered the area in the seventh century
AD. Jugurtha was the king of Numidia.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)
49BC Mauretania (now northern
Morocco and Algeria) became a client kingdom of Rome.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)
46BC Numidia was conquered by
Rome. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs
conquered the area in the seventh century AD.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)
40 Mauretania was divided into
the provinces of Tingitana and Caesariensis.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)
200-400 Christianity spread rapidly in Numidia and
the diocese of Lamiggiga was established. It was later abandoned and
just the name was used as an honorary jurisdiction for Catholic
auxiliary bishops.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
311 The Donatists were a
Christian sect that developed in northern Africa [Numidia] and
maintained that it alone constituted the whole and only true church
and that baptisms and ordinations of the orthodox clergy were
invalid.
(WUD, 1994, p.425)(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
430 Aug 28, Augustine (b.354)
died in Hippo (Annaba, Algeria) with a Vandal army outside the gates
of the city. His writings included "The Confessions." In 1999 Garry
Wills authored the biography "St. Augustine." Augustine had
developed the theory of a "just war" and said a nation’s leaders
must consider among other things, anticipated loss of civilian life
and whether all peaceful options have been exhausted before war
starts. In 2003 Garry Wills authored "Saint Augustine's Sin." In
2005 James J. O’Donnell authored “Augustine: A New Biography.”
Augustine turned against the spirit of intellectual inquiry once he
found salvation. His dogmatic invective laid the foundations for
centuries of intellectual tyranny by the Catholic church.
(SSFC, 12/21/03, p.M6)(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.86)(www.connect.net/ron/august.html)(Econ, 1/29/11, p.82)
439 Oct 19, The Vandals, led by
King Gaiseric, took Carthage and quickly conquered all the coastal
lands of Algeria and Tunisia. Egypt and the Libyan coast remained in
Roman hands.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)(HN, 10/19/98)
c439 In Mauretania (now northern Morocco and
Algeria) Roman rule ceased in the mid 5th century when barbarian
incursions forced the legions to withdraw.
(AM, May/Jun 97 )
1518 Algiers and Tunis, Barbary
states in North Africa, were founded.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1530-1539 During this period Khayr Ad-Din (d.1546)
known by the European name Barbarossa, meaning Redbeard, united
Algeria and Tunisia as military states under the Ottoman caliphate.
He was a Barbary pirate and later as admiral of the Ottoman fleet.
(HNQ, 4/25/02)
1546 Barbarossa, one of the
great figures in the court at Istanbul, died. Khayr Ad-Din was a
Barbary pirate and later, as admiral of the Ottoman fleet, he united
Algeria and Tunisia as military states under the Ottoman caliphate
in the 1530s.
(HNQ, 2/10/99)
1774 Jul 11, Jews of Algiers
escaped an attack of the Spanish Army. Jun 11 was also cited for
this event.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1795 Nov 28, US paid $800,000
and a frigate as tribute to Algiers and Tunis.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1815 Mar 2, To put an end to
robberies by the Barbary pirates, the United States declared war on
Algiers.
(HN, 3/2/99)
1815 Jun 30, US naval hero
Stephen Decatur signed a treaty ending attacks by Algerian pirates.
Commodores Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge had conducted
successful operations against the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis
and Tripoli [See Aug 5].
(WSJ, 10/9/01,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Barbary_War)
1815 Aug 5, A peace treaty with
Tripoli, which followed treaties with Algeria (Jun 30) and Tunis
(Aug 28), brought an end to the Barbary Wars. Commodores Stephen
Decatur and William Bainbridge had conducted successful operations
against the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
(HN, 8/5/98)(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)(ON, 10/06,
p.10)
1816 Aug 27, Admiral Sir Edward
Pellew, a noble from Devon, England, bombed Algiers, a refuge for
Barbary pirates. He flew the green, white and black flag of St.
Petroc. In 1836 the battle was pictured in a painting by George
Chambers, Senior. Pellew was subsequently named Lord Exmouth.
(http://tinyurl.com/gjooc)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.66)
1830 Jul 5, The French occupied
the North African city of Algiers.
(AP, 7/5/97)
1831 The original Zouaves,
Zouaoua tribesmen from Algeria, formed their brightly dressed
fighting force and later gained renown for their bravery during the
Crimean and Franco-Austrian wars. American units imitated both the
dress and battle courage of these fierce fighters.
(HNQ, 10/12/01)
1836 Jul 6, French General
Thomas Bugeaud defeated Abd al-Kader's forces beside the Sikkak
River in Algeria.
(HN, 7/6/98)
1845 Sep 8, A French column
surrendered at Sidi Brahim in the Algerian War.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1846 Oct 10, Alexis the
Tocqueville wrote about the "Algerian problem."
(MC, 10/10/01)
1848 Delacroix painted “Women
of Algiers in Their Apartment.”
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.E1)
1856 In France Emperor Napoleon
III decided to quell an impending revolt in Algeria by sending a
magician, who would demonstrate the power of the Europeans to the
natives. He sent Jean-Eugene Robert Houdini (1805-1871). The 1998
novel "The Magician’s Wife" by Brian Moore is based on the historic
events. The magician is named Henri Lambert.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A20)(SFEC, 1/25/98, BR p.5)
1905 Sep 14, Pierre de Brazza
(b.1852), Franco-Italian explorer, died and was buried in Algeria.
He was born in Italy and later naturalized French. Brazza
single-handedly opened up for France entry along the right bank of
the Congo that eventually led to French colonies in West Africa. In
2006 his remains were exhumed and moved to a mausoleum in
Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.
(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Savorgnan_de_Brazza)
1909 Nov 15, M. Metrot took off
in a Voisin bi-plane from Algiers, making the first manned flight in
Africa.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1913 Nov 7, Albert Camus
(d.1960), French philosopher, novelist, and dramatist was born in
Mondovi, Algeria. He is best known for his book "The Stranger."
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(HN, 11/7/98)
1916 Charles de Foucauld, a
former French army officer turned monk who lived among the Tuareg
people in the Sahara, was killed in an anti-French uprising in
Algeria. In 2005 he was beatified by Pope Benedikt XVI. Inspired by
the monk, groups known as the Little Sisters and Little Brothers of
Jesus were formed in Algeria.
(AP, 11/13/05)
1919 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian
statesman, was born. He served as premier from 1962-1965.
(WUD, 1994 p.137)
1936 Yves St. Laurent, fashion
designer, was born in Oran, Algeria.
(SFC, 1/9/97, p.E7)
1940 Jul 4, British destroyed
French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 died.
(Maggio)
1941 Jul 3, Liamine Zeroual was
born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1942 Admiral Jean Francois
Darlan, leader of the armed forces of Vichy France, was assassinated
in Algiers.
(HN, 6/16/98)(HN, 7/5/98)
1942 Oct 21, Eight American and
British officers landed from a submarine on an Algerian beach to
take measure of Vichy French to the Operation Torch landings.
(HN, 10/21/00)
1942 Oct 23, The Western Task
Force, destined for North Africa, departed from Hampton Roads,
Virginia. The command of the Western Task Force, part of an invasion
of North Africa during World War II known as Operation Torch, was
given to General George Patton. Placed under the command of General
George Patton, the Western Task Force had the advantage of having a
man at the top who would stop at nothing to see that the mission was
accomplished, a quality that would be needed in the days ahead.
Naval operations were in the hands of Rear Adm. H. Kent Hewitt, an
easygoing man who, in the beginning, found it difficult to work with
Patton, but with increasing familiarity became a solid partner.
(HN, 10/23/98)(HNQ, 12/8/00)
1942 Nov 8, Operation Torch
began during World War II as U.S. and British forces landed in
French North Africa. Gen’l. Eisenhower landed with American troops
in Algiers, Casablanca.
(AP, 11/8/97)(HN, 11/6/98)(WSJ, 6/4/98,
p.A19)(MC, 11/8/01)
1942 Nov 10, Admiral Jean
Darlan ordered French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to
the Anglo-American forces. Admiral Jean Francois Darlan, leader of
the armed forces of Vichy France, was assassinated in Algiers in
1942.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1942 Nov 13, Lt Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower flew to Algeria to conclude an agreement with French
Admiral Jean Darlan. The Admiral was assassinated soon after.
(HN, 11/13/99)
1942 Nov 14, Last Vichy French
troops in Algeria surrendered.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1942 Dec 24, Jean LXF Darlan,
French admiral and leader of the armed forces of Vichy France, was
murdered by Gaullists in Algiers.
(HN, 7/5/98)(MC, 12/24/01)
1943 May 29, Churchill,
Marshall and Eisenhower met in the Confederacy of Algiers.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1944 Mar 15, In Algiers, the
provisional government merged the Office Français
d'Information and France-Afrique, thus forming Agence
Française de Presse (AFP).
(www.afp.com)
1945 May 8, Algerian
demonstrators in the town of Setif unfurled an Algerian flag, banned
by the French occupiers. As police began confiscating the flags, the
crowds turned on the French, killing about two dozen of them. This
led to an uprising in which Algerians say some 45,000 people may
have died. Figures in France put the number at about 15,000 to
20,000. No one is quite sure.
(AP, 5/9/05)
1951 Nov 1, The Algerian
National Liberation Front began guerrilla warfare against the
French.
(HN, 11/1/98)
1954 Sep 10, A 12 second
earthquake killed 1,460 in Orleansville, Algeria.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1954
Oct 31, The Algerian Revolution (1954-1962) against the French
began. Algerian Muslims of the Front de Libération National
(FLN), began open warfare against French rule in Algeria. [see Nov
1]
(DoW, 1999, p.10)
1954 Nov 1, Algerian
nationalists began their successful eight-year rebellion against
French rule. [see Oct 31]
(AP, 11/1/06)
1954 Nov 24, France sent 20,000
soldiers to Algeria.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1954-1962 During the Algerian war of independence
French generals approved torture and the disappearance of the 3,000
suspected guerrillas. In 1977 Alistair Horne of Britain authored "A
Savage War of Peace." In 2000 former Gen. Paul Aussaresse testified
on French military behavior and the approval of Gen. Jacques Massu.
In 2001 a mass grave of 290 people was found at the site of the
former headquarters of the French army. In 2001 former Gen.
Aussaresses authored "Special Services: Algeria: 1955-1957." In 2002
Aussaresses was convicted of "trying to justify war" and was fined
$6,500.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B9)(SFC, 4/24/01, p.A12)(SFC,
5/11/01, p.D4)(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A8)
1954-1989 Leon-Etienne Duval served as archbishop
of Algiers, He was one of the first French public figures to
recognize Algeria’s right to independence and worked to that end.
(SFC, 5/31/96, p.E2)
1955 Aug 20, Hundreds of people
were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1956 Feb 6, French PM Guy
Mollet was pelted with rotten tomatoes at a demonstration in
Algiers. The French refer to this memorable event as "la
journée des tomates."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Mollet)
1956 Mar 27, French commandos
landed in Algeria.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1956 Apr 11, French government
sent 200,000 reservists to Algeria.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1956 May 10, French government
sent 50,000 reservists to Algeria. [see Apr 11]
(MC, 5/10/02)
1956 May 27, The French staged
a raid in Algiers.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1956 Jun 22, The battle for
Algiers began as three buildings in Casbah were blown up. France
under PM Guy Mollet resolved to put down the Arab uprising and put
400,000 soldiers in Algiers.
(HN, 6/22/98)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)
1956 Sep 30, In Algiers a blast
at the Milk Bar cafe together with another device set off nearby,
killed three people and wounded 60, including children. Several
people lost limbs sliced off by flying glass. Zohra Drif (20) set
one device as a reprisal for a big French bombing that killed dozens
in the Casbah weeks earlier. Captured soon afterwards, she was
sentenced to death and spent five years in French prisons.
(Reuters, 9/28/06)
1956 Sep, Sanche de Gramont
(23), a graduate of Yale, departed for Algeria. He spent 16 months
there as a French lieutenant working for a pro-French newspaper. He
later changed his name to Ted Morgan and in 2006 authored “My Battle
of Algiers.”
(WSJ, 2/2/06, p.D8)
1956 Oct 22, France intercepted
a Moroccan plane and arrested Ben Bella, an Algerian statesman.
(MC, 10/22/01)
1956 Gen. Jacques Massu (d.2002
at 94) took command of the French 10th Parachute Division, the elite
force tasked with maintaining order in Algeria.
(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A17)
1956-1959 France laid minefields on the Challe and
Morice Lines on the eastern and western borders of Algeria. In 2007
France gave Algeria maps of these minefields. Some 11 million mines
were laid along the borders to prevent infiltration into Algeria
from Morocco and Tunisia by fighters of Algeria's National
Liberation Army (ALN). From 1962-2009 over 8 million Algeria
destroyed over 8 million of the mines.
(AFP, 10/8/09)
1957 Jan, France began sending
troops to Algeria to crush the rebel movement in what came to be
called "The Battle for Algiers."
(SFC, 5/11/01, p.D4)
1957 May 29, Algerian rebels
killed 336 collaborators.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1957 Jun 16, There was a French
offensive in Algeria.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1957 Dec 25, Ramdane Abane
(b.1920), Algerian Berber revolutionary leader, was assassinated in
Morocco.
(www.amazighworld.org/history/personalities/ramdane_abane.php)(SFC,
6/28/08, p.E2)
1958 May 13, French troops took
control of Algiers as French settlers rioted against the French
army.
(HN, 5/13/98)(MC, 5/13/02)
1958 Jun 4, French premier De
Gaulle arrived in Algiers.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1958 Jun 6, Premier Charles de
Gaulle said Algeria will always be French.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1958 Oct 23, De Gaulle offered
Algerian defiance "peace of the brave."
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 Apr 12, France Observator
reported torture practice by French army in Algeria.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1960 Jul, French Gen. Raoul
Salan led a failed army revolt in Algeria and then fled abroad,
continuing to direct increasing terrorist Secret Army Organization
(OAS) attacks on the French and Algerian governments, turning the
Algerian War of Independence into a three-way war in Algeria and a
right-wing guerrilla insurrection in France.
(http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/foxtrot/france1960.htm)
1960 Feb 13, Gerboise Bleue
("blue jerboa") was the name of the first French nuclear test. It
was an atomic bomb detonated in the middle of the Algerian Sahara
desert, during the Algerian War (1954-62).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerboise_Bleue)
1960
Apr 1, France exploded a 2nd atom bomb in the Sahara Desert.
Gerboise Blanche (“white gerboa”) was a surface shot fired in a
seven meter deep pit, which accounted for the strange, Christmas
tree-like shape of the fireball. General Ailleret once again
personally initiated the firing of the device.
(www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=112)
1960 Dec 27, France exploded a
3rd atom bomb in the Sahara Desert, code-named Gerboise Rouge (“red
gerboa”).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerboise_Bleue)
1961 Apr 21, The French army
revolted in Algeria.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1961 Apr 22, An uprising of
French parachutists was led by Gen. Salan/Challe in Algeria.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1961 Apr 25, France exposed
soldiers to a nuclear test, code-named "Gerboise verte" or green
gerboa, in the Sahara Desert. In 2010 a French news report, citing a
classified defense document, said the exposure was intentional to
study how the atomic bomb would affect their bodies and minds. In
total, France conducted 210 nuclear tests, both in the atmosphere
and underground, in the Sahara Desert and the South Pacific from
1960-1996.
(AP, 2/17/10)
1961 Apr 26, French
paratroopers' revolt was suppressed in Algeria.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1961 Oct 17, Paris police beat
and killed dozens of Algerian demonstrators and threw some bodies
into the Seine. The police were commanded by Maurice Papon. Papon
said some 30 bodies had been recovered from the Seine but that they
had been killed in fighting between rival Algerian nationalist
groups. In 1999 France agreed to open its archives on the issue.
Police killed 210 Algerians who were protesting against police
oppression and the curfew imposed against their community in Paris.
On Oct 17, 2011, Algeria's post office issued a new stamp to
commemorate the massacre.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A15)(Econ,
2/24/07, p.99)(AFP, 10/17/11)
1962 Feb 5, French President
Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria's independence.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1962 Mar 18, France and
Algerian rebels agreed to a truce, which took effect the next day.
(HN, 3/18/98)(AP, 3/18/08)
1962 Mar 19, Relative calm
returned to Algeria after cease-fire, ending 7 years of warfare
between French and Algerian Nationalists.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1962 Apr 20, The Secret Army
Organization (OAS) leader and ex-general Salan was arrested in
Algiers.
(MC, 4/20/02)(PCh, 1992, p.984)
1962 May 2, OAS (Secret Army
Organization) struck in Algeria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1962 May 23, OAS leader general
Raoul Salan was sentenced to life in prison. French general Raoul
Salan led a failed army revolt in Algeria (July, 1960) and then fled
abroad, continuing to direct increasing terrorist Secret Army
Organization (OAS) attacks on the French and Algerian governments,
turning the Algerian War of Independence into a three-way war in
Algeria and a right-wing guerrilla insurrection in France.
(http://tinyurl.com/d8qm2)
1962 Jul 1, Some 6 million of a
total Algerian electorate of 6.5 million cast their ballots in the
referendum on independence. The vote was nearly unanimous. De Gaulle
pronounced Algeria an independent country on July 3. The Provisional
Executive, however, proclaimed July 5, the 132nd anniversary of the
French entry into Algeria, as the day of national independence.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/falgeria1954.htm)
1962 Jul 3, French Pres.
Charles De Gaulle pronounced Algeria an independent country
following the July 1 elections. De Gaulle evacuated Algeria and a
million settlers flooded into France.
(WSJ, 11/16/95,
p.A-18)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/falgeria1954.htm)
1962 Jul 5, Algeria’s
Provisional Executive proclaimed July 5, the 132nd anniversary of
the French entry into Algeria, as the day of national independence.
French Pres. Charles De Gaulle had pronounced Algeria an independent
country on Jul 3 following the July 1 elections. A massacre in
Oran, Algeria, left 96 dead.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/falgeria1954.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/a5ky8)
1962 A gas fire in Algeria
called “The Devil’s Cigarette Lighter” had burned for 6 months until
it was put out by Texas firefighter Red Adair (1915-2004).
(Econ, 8/14/04, p.78)
1962-1963 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian statesman,
served as prime minister. He served as president from 1963 to 1965.
(WUD, 1994
p.137)(http://www.rulers.org/indexb2.html)
1963 Mar 19, Algeria demanded
that France negotiate on ending nuclear testing in Algerian Sahara.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1963 Mohamed Khider
(1912-1967), Algerian politician, went into exile in Switzerland,
bringing $12-14 million of party funds with him, saying they would
be used to finance a political opposition to continue the "genuine"
nationalist tradition of the FLN.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Khider)
1963-1979 Mouloud Hamrouche, economic reformist,
served as the prime minister. Abdelaziz Bouteflika served as the
foreign minister.
(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.A12)
1964 Jun 15, The last French
troops left Algeria.
(HN, 6/15/98)
1965 Jun 19, Col. Houari
Boumedienne (1932-1978) overthrew Pres. Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's
first civilian president. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was Boumedienne's
right-hand man.
(SFEC, 4/18/99,
p.A22)(www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0107272.html)
1967 Jan 4, Mohamed Khider
(b.1912), Algerian politician and a leading figure in the FLN, was
assassinated in Madrid, Spain.
(Econ, 12/31/11,
p.67)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Khider)
1969 The first Panafrican
Festival took place in Algiers amid widespread euphoria. Most
African nations had just gained independence, they were full of
hope, and Algeria was spearheading the nonaligned movement balancing
between the Western and Soviet blocks. A 2nd Panafrican Festival did
not take place until 2009.
(AP, 7/9/09)
1970 Sep 12, US professor
Timothy Leary, LSD proponent, escaped from a California jail. Leary
escaped from the State Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo with the help
of his third wife, Rosemary and the Weather Underground. He went to
Algiers and joined Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, who
kidnapped the Learys after a political disagreement. They soon
escaped and made their way to Afghanistan. In 1974 he was caught and
revealed his collaborators to the FBI.
(http://tinyurl.com/4ncp8t)(SFC, 6/1/96,
p.A7)(SFC, 7/1/99, p.A9)
1970 Algeria's Socialist
government permitted American writer and activist Eldridge Cleaver
to open a local office of the Black Panther Movement.
(AP, 9/28/11)
1971 Feb 24, Algeria
nationalized French oil companies.
(www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Algeria-ENERGY-AND-POWER.html)
1972 Jul 31, George Wright,
dressed as a priest and using an alias, hijacked a Delta flight from
Detroit to Miami with four other BLA members and three children.
They released 86 other passengers in exchange for a $1 million
ransom and forced the plane to fly to Boston. There an international
navigator was taken aboard, and the plane was flown to Algeria,
where the hijackers sought asylum. Wright's associates were tracked
down, arrested, tried and convicted in Paris in 1976. In 2011 Wright
(68) was arrested in Portugal.
(www.edmontonsun.com/2011/09/27/us-fugitive-caught-after-41-years)
1973 Nov 28, Arab League summit
in Algiers recognized Palestine.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/arabsum73.html)
1973 Oct 16, OPEC, the Arab
oil-producing nations, announced they would begin cutting back on
oil exports to Western nations and Japan. The next day, the five
Arab members of the OPEC committee were joined in Kuwait by the oil
ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The result
was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 and caused oil
prices to quadruple.
(www.harvardir.org/articles/1659/)(AP,
10/17/97)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1975 Mar 6, OPEC held a meeting
in Algiers attended for the first time by its members’ top leaders.
Here the Algiers Accord between Baghdad and Teheran put an end to
their border dispute and brought all Iranian help to the Kurdish
rebellion to a halt. The United States abruptly withdrew its support
for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. Many thousands of Kurdish
fighters and their families were forced to flee to Iran to escape
the pursuing Iraqi army.
(http://mondediplo.com/2002/10/06timeline)(SFC,
11/19/07, p.A11)
1975 The Algerian film
"Chronicle of the Years of Embers" was produced.
(SFC, 9/6/99, p.B5)
1978 Dec 27, Algerian President
Houari Boumediene, one of the Third World's most prominent and
outspoken leaders, died after 40 days in a coma.
(AP, 12/27/03)
1979 Feb 18, Snow fell in the
Sahara Desert of southern Algeria.
(www.distant.ca/UselessFacts/fact.asp?ID=103)
1979 Jul 4, Algerian
ex-president Ben Bella (b.1918) was freed after 14 years of
detention, but remained under house arrest. He had served as prime
minister from 1962-63, and as president from 1963-65. Bella was
freed on Oct 20, 1980.
(http://www.rulers.org/indexb2.html)(www.cnn.com/almanac/9807/04/)
1980 Oct 10, Some 4,500 died
when a pair of earthquakes struck NW Algeria. In 1983 the “El-Asnam
Algeria Earthquake of October 10, 1980 a Reconnaissance and
Engineering Report” was published.
(http://tinyurl.com/2ud4vh)
1980 In Algeria Berber
anti-government sentiment was mobilized in the "Tamazight Spring"
uprising.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
1982 In Algeria earnest work
began in Algiers for Africa's second metro after Cairo. The
underground metro system opened in 2011.
(AFP, 10/31/11)
1983 Algeria signed a secret
deal with China for the fabrication of the 15MW Es Salam reactor at
Ain Oussera. It came online in 1993.
(http://isaintel.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=1)
1984 Jul 3, Raoul Salan
(b.1899), French general, OAS leader (Algeria), died. Salan was one
of the four Generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch
operation, and then founded the Organization armée
secrète (OAS) terrorist group.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Salan)
1984 Porch, Douglas
authored "The Conquest of the Sahara," NY: Knopf. Tuaregs -- Algeria
History. Algeria -- History -- 1830-1962.
(WWW, 12/19/98)
1985 The ban on rai music was
lifted. The music was marked by a danceable beat produced on the
darbuka drum and fused influences from beyond the Arab world. It had
grown out of the nightclub music of the 1930s, which was based on
more traditional North African song.
(WSJ, 9/19/00, p.A24)
1987 Apr 7, Ali Mecili, a
lawyer active in Algeria's human rights movement, was killed by
three gunshots in the foyer of his Paris apartment. Colleagues
accused the Algerian government of involvement. In 2008 Algerian
diplomat Mohamed Ziane Hasseni was arrested at an airport in the
French port city of Marseille, based on an international arrest
warrant. A Paris judge had signed the orders for the arrest of
Hassani and the suspected killer, Abdelmalek Amellouet, in December
last year. Hasseni was released on Feb 27.
(AP, 10/17/08)(http://tinyurl.com/67pryj)(AP,
2/2809)
1988 Apr 20, Gunmen who had
hijacked a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet were allowed safe passage out of
Algeria. An agreement also freed the remaining 31 hostages and ended
a 15-day siege in which two passengers were slain.
(AP, 4/20/98)
1988 Oct 11, Violence began to
subside in Algeria, where mass rioting by youths had broken out a
week earlier, prompting the government to declare a state of siege.
(AP, 10/11/98)
1988 Oct, Berber riots left
hundreds dead in the "Black October" riots.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
1988 Nov 12, The Palestine
National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, opened a four-day
meeting in Algiers, during which delegates proclaimed an independent
Palestinian state.
(AP, 11/12/98)
1989 Jan, In Spain ETA called
a unilateral truce to help ultimately unsuccessful peace talks in
Algeria.
(AP, 3/22/06)
1989 Feb 23, Algeria adopted a
new, relatively liberal constitution. It disestablished the ruling
party and made no mention of socialism, while promising freedom of
expression, association, and assembly.
(WSJ, 12/3/96,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Algeria)
1989 Jul, Rai singer Cheb Mami
returned to Algeria for his 1st concert in a decade. In 1999 Mami
recorded "Desert Rose" with Sting.
(WSJ, 9/19/00, p.A24)
1989 The Arab Maghreb Union was
created to encourage free trade between Algeria, Libya, Mauritania,
Morocco and Tunisia. It failed to hold summit meetings after 1994.
(Econ, 5/29/10, p.50)
1991 Dec 27, Muslim
fundamentalists in Algeria won a major victory in free legislative
elections; however, the military ended up canceling the election
results.
(AP, 12/27/01)
1991 In Algeria the military
forced Prime Minister Mouloud Hamrouche to resign.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C2)
1991 In Algeria leaders of the
outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) were arrested and sentenced
to 12 years in prison. Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj were released
Jul 2, 2003.
(Econ, 7/12/03, p.40)
1991 US intelligence discovered
that Algeria possessed a nuclear research reactor at Ain Oussera,
which was surrounded by air defenses.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/2j86s7)
1991-1995 The US has won 54% of all new oil
exploration licenses in this time.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-10)
1991-1998 Chronicle of Algeria.
(http://mondediplo.com/1999/03/04algeria)
1992 Jan 10, In an army coup
the government cancelled elections that were running strongly in
favor of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). France supported the
move which led to a bloody struggle between the Algerian army and
Algerian fundamentalist (Armed Islamic Group, GIA) guerillas that by
1995 claimed nearly 40,000 lives and numerous bomb attacks in
France.
(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-22)(SFC, 11/14/96,
p.A12)(SFC, 1/8/96, p.A7)
1992 Jan 11, The president of
Algeria (Chadli Bendjedid) resigned, two weeks after Muslim
fundamentalists had defeated his ruling party in legislative
elections.
(AP, 1/11/02)
1992 Feb 9, The government of
Algeria declared a state of emergency to quell spreading Muslim
fundamentalist unrest.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1992 Jun 29, Mohammad Boudiaf
(73), the president of Algeria, was assassinated by his body guard
during his first public appearance, in Annaba. A few seconds after
the president Mohammed Boudiaf spoke the words “We are all going to
die,” an assassin in uniform raised his submachine gun and killed
the Algerian head of state. It was his first trip outside Algiers
since he took office after a military coup in January. In the
confusion and panic that followed, 41 other people were wounded by
gunfire and grenades. Boudiaf was succeeded by army officer Liamine
Zeroual.
(http://tinyurl.com/pdcmb)(www.therace.ws/facts007.html)
1992-1995 The civil war in Algeria claimed some
40,000 lives.
(www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/BG1060.cfm)
1993 Nov, In Algeria an
ultimatum issued by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) urged foreigners
to leave or be killed. GIA terrorists assassinated Sheikh Mohamed
Bouslimani, who was closely associated with Hamas, a more moderate
Islamist group, when he agreed to participate in a dialogue with the
regime.
(http://www.emergency.com/algrwarn.htm)
1993 Dec 14, In Algeria a large
group of armed terrorists attacked a work camp of a hydro-electric
project in Tamezguida. Fourteen Croatian citizens were taken out of
the camp. Twelve were murdered by having their throats slit, but two
others escaped with injuries.
(www.milnet.com/state/chrono93.htm)
1993 Algeria stopped applying
death sentences.
(AP, 1/29/11)
1993 The Armed Islamic Group
(GIA) first emerged and became most active around Algiers.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)
1993 Karima Belhadj was the
first woman killed in a rebel attack.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1994 Sep, Lounes Matoub, a
popular Berber singer, was kidnapped by Islamic militants. He was
held for over 2 weeks and released after over 100,000 people
demonstrated for his freedom.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
1994 Dec 24, Armed Islamic
fundamentalists hijacked an Air France Airbus A-300 carrying 227
passengers at the Algiers airport; three passengers were killed
before the hijackers were killed by French commandos in Marseille
two days later.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)(AP, 12/24/99)
1994 Dec 26, French commandos
stormed a hijacked Air France jetliner on the ground in Marseilles,
killing four Algerian hijackers and freeing 170 hostages. The Air
France plane was hijacked by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria Dec
24.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)(AP, 12/26/99)
1994 Dec 27, Four Roman
Catholic priests—three French and a Belgian—were shot to death in
their rectory in Algiers, a day after French commandos killed four
radicals who had hijacked an Air France jet from Algiers to
Marseille.
(AP, 12/27/00)
1994 Algeria closed its common
border with Morocco after Morocco claimed Algerian secret service
agents were behind an Islamist extremist attack in Marrakech.
Algiers later set a global settlement of the conflict in Western
Sahara as a precondition for reopening the border.
(AFP, 7/30/08)
1994 Islamic militants killed
Cheb Hasni, a rai singer. This led to increase of defections by
musicians to France.
(WSJ, 9/19/00, p.A24)
1995 Jan 30, At least 42 people
were killed and nearly 300 wounded when a car bomb blamed on Muslim
insurgents exploded in downtown Algiers.
(AP, 1/30/00)
1995 Feb 22, Security forces in
Algiers crushed a prison uprising by Islamic extremists, resulting
in 96 deaths by official count.
(AP, 2/22/00)
1995 April 4, Fierce fighting
continues in Algeria as Muslim revolutionaries struggle against the
military regime in power. It was estimated that over 1,000 people
are being killed per month. France backs the military regime who,
stopped free elections last year when it was clear that the Muslim
fundamentalists were going to win.
(NPR)
1995 Aug 20, The Algerian
government planned presidential elections for Nov. 16, but Muslim
militants vowed to derail the plans. Some 40,000 people have been
killed since the government cancelled elections in 1992.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)
1995 In Algeria a bloody
struggle continued between the army and Islamic fundamentalist
forces, which included the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) and the GIA
(Armed Islamic Group).
(WSJ, 10/23/95, p.A-1)(WSJ, 10/26/95,
p.A-22)(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A12)
1995 France imposed lengthy
cross-checks for Algerians traveling to Europe due to the war with
Islamist rebels. The weeks long wait was finally reduced in 2006.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.48)
1995 Algerian Gen. Mohamed
Boutaghene, commander of the Coast Guard, was killed by gunmen in
south Algiers. He was the highest ranking officer killed in four
years of struggle.
(WSJ, 11/29/95, p.A-1)
1995 French subway train
bombings left 8 people dead. In 1999 five people linked to Algerian
militants were sentenced to 10-year prison terms for the attacks. 16
others received lesser sentences. In 2002 Boualem Bensaid and Smain
Ait Ali Belkacem, Islamic militants, were convicted and sentenced to
life in prison for their roles in the bombings.
(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/31/02, p.A9)
1995 In Algeria more than 3,000
people died this year in fighting between the government and Islamic
fundamentalists.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1996 Feb, Two car bombs killed
17 and wounded 93 in Algeria's capital.
(WSJ, 2/12/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar 27, In Algeria
the Armed Islamic Group kidnapped seven French monks from the Notre
Dame del’Atlas monastery near Medea.
(SFC, 5/24/96, p.A14)
1996 May 23, The Armed Islamic
Group said that it had killed 7 French Trappist monks who were
kidnapped two months ago from the Notre Dame de l’Atlas monastery at
Tibhirine near Medea on Mar 27. Only their decapitated heads were
found. In 2002 John W. Kister authored "The Monks of Tibhirine." In
2010 this story was covered in the French film “Of Gods and Men.”
(SFC, 5/24/96, p.A14)(WSJ, 2/19/02, p.A24)(Econ,
2/19/11, p.95)
1996 May 30, Former arch-bishop
of Algiers, Cardinal Leon-Etienne Duval, died in Paris. He was one
of the first French public figures to recognize Algeria’s right to
independence.
(SFC, 5/31/96, p.E2)
1996 Jul 15, An Algerian court
sentenced 128 Muslim militants to death in absentia for their
involvement in guerilla activities. Another 67 were sentenced in
absentia to life imprisonment.
(SFC, 7/16/96, p.A7)
1996 Jul 20, A bomb exploded in
suburban Algiers and killed 5 people. 30 more were injured.
(SFC, 7/21/96, p.A13)
1996 Jul 16, An ambush in
Algeria killed the former head of a militant Muslim group.
(WSJ, 7/29/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 15, Armed militants
killed 17 passengers on a bus using a fake police barricade on a
remote highway.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 17, More than 100
militants shot, stabbed and hacked to death some 63 people when they
attacked 2 busses after setting a fake barricade. The government
denied the report.
(SFC, 8/20/96, p.A9)
1996 Oct 21, The Mayor of
Algiers, Ali Boucetta, was killed by a stray bullet in fighting
between security forces and rebels in Algiers.
(SFC, 10/22/96, p.B1)
1996 Oct 22, A new constitution
was drafted that would ban Islamic militants from seeking power. It
was to be put up for referendum on Nov. 28.
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 13, Militants slit the
throats of 12 people outside Blida, 30 miles south of Algiers. Ten
of the victims were of the same family.
(SFC, 11/14/96, p.A12)
1996 Nov 14, Militants slit the
throats of 18 people. 11 in Ain-Dema and 7 in Douar Zemala.
(SFC, 11/15/96, p.A18)
1996 Nov 28, A referendum was
passed that banned political parties based on religion, language and
regionalism, a reference to the large Berber community which has
long worked for recognition of its language. Opponents denounced the
elections as a sham.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A12)
1996 Dec 6, In the last 2 days
29 civilians have had their throats slit by rebels.
(SFC, 12/7/96, p.A10)
1996 Dec 26, A car bomb
exploded in a crowded suburb of Algiers. At least 10 were killed and
86 injured.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.B3)
1996 Authorities shut down the
newspaper La Nation run by Salima Ghezali.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C2)
1997 Jan 7, In Algiers a car
bomb killed 13 and wounded 10.
(SFC, 1/8/96, p.A7)
1997 Jan 19, A car bomb killed
21 and wounded dozens in Algiers just hours after attackers
massacred 36 villagers south of the capital.
(SFC, 1/20/97, p.A12)
1997 Jan 21, In Algeria 2 car
bombs in the capital killed as a many as 18 people.
(SFC, 1/22/97, p.A8)
1997 Jan 28, Union leader
Abdelhak Benhamouda was killed by an assassin. A bomb in the
marketplace at Blida killed 15 people.
(USAT, 1/29/97, p.8A)
1997 Feb 2, In Algeria Islamic
guerrillas killed 31 people. The dead were all believed to be
related to a dissident member of the GIA, the Armed Islamic Group.
After their throats were cut a dwarf hacked off their heads with an
ax and a knife.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 5, Rebels killed a
family of 9 by hacking off their heads in Benchikao. The government
in Algiers began banning parked cars in the city to thwart car bomb
attacks.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 18, Islamic militants
shot, hacked or burned to death 33 people in Blida, south of
Algiers. Meanwhile the government passed a law that banned political
parties based on religion, language and regionalism.
(SFC, 2/19/96, p.A10)
1997 Apr 6, In Algeria
attackers massacred 90 villagers at various sites over the last 2
days. 52 people had their throats slit near Medea by about 50
killers; 15 were killed in Amroussa and their bodies were burned
with gasoline.
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Apr 21, In Algeria rebels
butchered 93 people including 43 women and girls in the Baouch
Boukhelef-Khemisti farming community.
(SFC, 4/23/97, p.A5)
1997 Apr 25, A bomb killed some
21 passengers and injured 20 near Algiers.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A12)
1997 May 6, A car bomb in
Algiers killed 4 students and injured 25 people.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C3)
1997 May 15, Armed men
massacred 30 villagers, 17 of them children, in Chebli, 15 miles
south of the capital.
(SFC, 5/16/97, p.A8)
1997 May 22, In Algeria a car
bomb killed 15 people in Boufarik south of the capital.
(SFC, 5/23/97, p.A18)
1997 May 23, In Algiers 2 car
bombs exploded and killed 7 people and wounded 12 in the town of
Tlemcen.
(SFC, 5/24/97, p.C1)
1997 May 29, In Algeria armed
men attacked a home in Djebabra and slit the throats of 6 men and 2
women.
(SFC, 5/30/97, p.A16)
1997 Jun 5, Algeria scheduled
Parliamentary elections. In a 65% turnout pro-government forces took
the largest share of votes. Two Islamist parties picked up 1/4th of
the parliament seats. Monitors were not allowed to inspect some
5,000 portable voting booths.
(SFC, 5/16/97, p.A8)(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1997 Jun 16, In Algeria
post-election violence more than 50 people were slain in recent
days. Blame was place on the Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 6/17/97, p.D2)
1997 Jun 19, A bomb in an
Algiers movie theater killed 2 and wounded 20.
(WSJ, 6/20/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 9, Adbelkader Hachani,
Muslim fundamentalist leader, was freed hours after an Algerian
court sentenced him to 5 years in prison. He had been held without
trial since 1991 when the military voided a vote that his group was
set to win.
(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 14, A bomb exploded in
an Algiers market filled with women and children and killed 21
people and wounded 40. Weekend massacres left 40 villagers dead.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 15, Abassi Madani,
former leader of the Islamic Salvation Front, was released in
Algeria after serving 5 years of a 12 year sentence.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)
1997 Jul 15, An Algerian court
condemned 24 Muslim militants to death for their involvement in
guerrilla activities.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 22, Algerian troops
killed 140 of 180 radical Islamist guerrillas in the Attatba area of
Blida province in an offensive that began 10 days ago.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 24, It was reported
that Algerian security forces killed Antar Zouabri (26), the chief
of the Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 30, It was reported
that Muslim militants in Algeria massacred over 80 villagers in
recent attacks in apparent retaliation to a government offensive. 40
villagers were killed at Metmata village in Ain Defla province.
(WSJ, 7/29/97, p.A12)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 1, In Algeria 38
villagers at Sidi el Madani in Blida province were killed.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A19)
1997 Aug 8, In Ddjelfa,
Algeria, a bomb in a baby bassinet killed 9 people. In the village
of Zeboudja insurgents slit the throats of 21 people and 20 others
were shot and wounded.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 28, In Algeria a 2nd
bomb this week killed 8 people in the Casbah.
(USAT, 8/29/97, p.8A)
1997 Aug 29, In Algeria some
300 villagers of Rais were slain by hooded men armed with axes
in an Algerian farm village in the worst carnage since an Islamic
insurgency began. In addition 20 young women were abducted.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A10)(AP, 8/29/98)
1997 Sep 4, In Algeria 22
people were killed in El Arbi. Their throats were slit and bodies
burned.
(SFC, 9/5/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 6, In Algeria at least
87 people were killed and 100 injured by about 50 attackers in the
town of Beni Messous.
(SFEC, 9/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Sep 13, In Algeria
security forces killed 8 suspected Muslim militants in a rocket
attack on a mosque in a suburb of the capital. Earlier a Muslim
cleric was assassinated by suspected militants in Constantine.
(WSJ, 9/15/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 15, In Algeria 7
people were killed in Saida by masked assailants and four people had
their throats cut in Medea.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 21, In Algeria an
armed group killed 53 people in Beni-Slimane and then mutilated and
burned the bodies.
(SFC, 9/22/97, p.A9)
1997 Sep 23, In Algeria the
government reported that 85 people were killed, while eyewitnesses
counted more than 200 bodies in the Bentalha neighborhood of the
Baraki suburb of Algiers. Armed men raided an Algerian village,
killing at least 200 people in one of the worst massacres since
Algeria's Islamic insurgency began.
(AP, 9/23/98)(SFC, 9/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 24, In Algeria the
Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) declared a truce and blamed recent
killings on a splinter fundamentalist group, the Armed Islamic Group
(GIA).
(WSJ, 9/25/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 26, In Algeria
militants attacked the village of El Hadj and killed 15 people.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 27, In Algeria
witnesses said armed men killed 11 female teachers at Ain Adden
School in Sfisef while shouting "Blood, blood, blood, destruction,
destruction, destruction," the rallying cry of the Armed Islamic
Group.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 2, In Algeria
attackers killed 20 members of a wedding party in Blida.
(SFEC, 10/5/97, p.A22)
1997 Oct 3, In Algeria armed
men killed 38 people at the village of Mahelma. Throat of the
victims were slit, heads were cut off and houses were set on fire.
In Blida 10 people were killed and 20 wounded by assailants with
homemade rockets and bombs. Another group of attackers killed 75
others including 34 children. In the village of Ouled Benaissa armed
men killed 37 people including 22 children.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A10)(SFEC, 10/5/97, p.A22)
1997 Oct 5, In Algeria armed
men attacked a school bus near Blida. The driver attempted to run
their roadblock but crashed and 16 children were killed by the
attackers.
(SFC, 10/6/97, p.A11)
1997 Oct 14, Fifty-four people
were massacred near the main oil and gas center. Four leading human
rights organizations called on world leaders to take steps to halt
the crises in Algeria.
(SFC,10/15/97, p.C2)
1997 Oct 23, Algeria held local
elections. The government claimed a 66% turnout. The winners will
choose 2/3 of the members of the upper house of parliament. Pres.
Zeroual will choose the other third. Opposition parties charged that
the turnout was greatly inflated and that some poll watchers were
roughed up and stopped from observing the tally.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.D2,4)(SFC,10/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 27, In Algeria some
15,000 supporters of the Socialist Forces Front marched to protest
fraud in the elections.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 30, In Algeria some
30,000 marched in Algiers in protest over the elections and called
for the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.
(SFC,10/31/97, p.D2)
1997 Nov 8, In Algeria armed
men raided a government-held village and slaughtered 27 people in
Lahmalit.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov 9, In Algeria
attackers disguised as policemen slit the throats of 28 civilians in
2 separate attacks in the northwest.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov, A senior Algerian
officer accused the secret service of being responsible for the
Sept. massacre in Beni Messous where over 200 died.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.A14)
1997 Nov, In Algeria the armed
wing of the FIS began to observe a truce.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A12)
1997 Dec 9, A former Algerian
diplomat in London said that the government was involved in the
recent massacres of civilians to garner support against the Islamic
opposition.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.A14)
1997 Dec 17, In France Salima
Ghezali, Algerian human rights campaigner, received the European
Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.
(SFC,12/18/97, p.C12)
1997 Dec 22, In Algeria
attackers stormed Shari hamlet and killed 28 villagers including 15
children and 5 women. The same night 53 villagers, mostly women and
children, died in a massacre in the neighboring Sidi el Antar
hamlet. Another 11 had their throats cut in Algiers in the Bainem
area.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A19)
1997 Dec 25, In Algeria
Interior Minister Mustapha Benmansour announced that the ruling
National Democratic Rally won 80 of 96 contested seats.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A19)
1997 Dec 28, In Algeria
assailants cut the heads off a man and his 2 sons in the village of
Djelfa. They then kidnapped his wife and 3 young daughters. At Hassi
Bahbah an armed group killed a mother and 2 children and left the
father in critical condition.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)
1997 Dec 29, In Algeria armed
attackers stopped a bus and killed 14 passengers and the driver near
Mascara. The bodies were then doused in gasoline and set on fire.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)
1997 Dec 30, In Algeria
marauders slit the throats of 34 people in Ain Boucif. Later reports
raised the number killed near the city of Relizane to over 400 for
this first day of Ramadan.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)(SFC, 1/3/98, p.A8)
1997 Michael Willis authored
"Islamist Challenge In Algeria; A Political History." Hardcover, 448
pages. In recent years, like many countries caught between the tides
of fundamentalist religion and secular culture, Algeria has been
rocked by social upheaval, protest, spasmodic violence, and
terrorist activity. Middle East scholar Michael Willis here charts
the meteoric rise of one of the largest and most powerful Islamist
movements in the Muslim world. Pub: New York University Press.
(WWW, 12/19/98)
1998 Jan 3, In Meknassa,
Algeria, a 117 people were killed. In Chekala some 200 people were
killed. Villagers fled their homes and sought shelter in big-city
public squares.
(SFC, 1/7/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 8, The EU decided to
send a fact-finding mission to Algeria. New reports said 30 more
people were killed in the region of Relizane.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 9, In Algeria another
35 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 11, In Algeria 11 more
people were killed over the weekend.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 12, In Algeria gangs
of men hurled bombs into a mosque in Haouche Sahraoui and a
movie theater in Sidi Ahmed and up to 120 people were killed. It
coincided with the 6th anniversary of the coup that thwarted the
Islamic Salvation Front’s rise to power by cancelled elections. The
number killed was reported by local papers to be at least 400.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A11)(SFC, 1/14/98,
p.C2)(www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=10201)
1998 Jan 15, Algeria’s
government agreed to a revamped EU delegation to seek ways to end
the violence.
(SFC, 1/16/98, p.B4)
1998 Jan 19, European
diplomats arrived in Algeria to discuss ways to end the violence
after another 16 people were killed in an eastern province.
(SFC, 1/20/98, p.D2)(WSJ, 1/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 20, The envoys
concluded their mission in Algeria as 3 people were killed by a bomb
in Ben Aknoun District, another 3 by a bomb in the village of
Ziralda. 2 people died from a bomb thrown into a cafe in Boussaken.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia offered his nation’s assistance to end the
bloodshed.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 25, In Algeria 20
people had their throats cut in the village of Frenda. Local media
reported that 50 people were killed in Kaid Ben Larbi. Ambushes and
bombings were widespread as the celebration of Leilat El Qadr (night
of destiny) began in recognition of the end of Ramadan. The
government reported 29 rebels killed in 3 clashes in the last few
days.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 28, The Algerian
military reported 3 more civilian massacres that killed 34 people
and said that 18 Muslim rebels were killed.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 2, The Algerian
military reported that they killed 60 rebels in a weekend offensive.
Local media said 17 civilians were killed in 3 massacres in western
and southern provinces.
(WSJ, 2/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 15, Armed men killed
32 people in 3 weekend attacks. 17 people had their throats slit in
Saida, Algeria.
(SFC, 2/16/98, p.A11)
1998 Feb 23, A bomb exploded
under a passing train near El Affroune, Algeria. Ten people were
killed and 25 injured.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Mar 8, In Algeria
attackers slit the throats of 6 people on a farm in Haouch Mena,
near the home village of Antar Zouabri, believed to be the leader of
the militant Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Mar 30, In Algeria some
123 people including 58 civilians and many children were reported
killed in the west and south in the last 3 days.
(WSJ, 3/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4, The daily El
Moudjahid, a pro-government newspaper, reported that over 200
Islamic militants were killed in an army-led offensive in the last
12 days in western Algeria.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 6, In Algeria armed
groups killed at least 35 civilians in 2 separate attacks. 27 were
killed near Oran and 89 near M’Sila.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)
1998 Apr 13, In Algeria it was
reported that Muslim clerics ruled to allow women raped by Islamic
militants to have abortions.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 28, In Algeria 40
people were killed in a massacre at a village in Medea province.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A11)
1998 May 26, Police in 5
European countries arrested 74 alleged Algerian separatists. 53 were
arrested in France and 21 in Belgium, Germany, Italy and
Switzerland. The idea was to dismantle terrorist networks prior to
the World Cup.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 25, In Algeria Lounes
Matoub (42), a popular singer and Berber patriot, was killed near
Beni Douala. The Armed Islamic Group later claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)(SFC, 7/2/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 26, Hundreds rioted in
eastern Algeria over the death of Lounes Matoub.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
1998 Jul 2, Algeria agreed to
allow a UN team to investigate the killings and promised free access
to all sources of information.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A16)
1998 Jul 5, Algeria celebrated
independence and put into effect a new law making Arabic the
country’s sole official language. The Berber minority struggled to
have the government recognize their own language, Tamazight.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 8, In Algeria Khalifi
Athmani (24), a leading member of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), was
killed outside the capital. Athmani’s nom de guerre was Hossein
Flicha and he was believed to have led the Sep. ‘97 killings at Beni
Messous.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 9, In Algeria a bomb
exploded in a flea market in Algiers and killed 10 people and
wounded 21.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 26, In Algeria
attackers in Khelil in Tlemcen province and in Sidi Abdelmoumen in
Saida province killed 20 people in overnight attacks.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 31, In Algeria 6
civilians were killed and 23 wounded in 2 overnight attacks. In
Malakou village in Tiaret province 4 villagers had their throats cut
and in Algiers a parcel bomb killed 2.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A11)
1998 Aug 31, An explosion in
Algiers killed at least 17 people.
(SFC, 9/1/98, p.A9)
1998 Sep 11, Algeria’s Pres.
Liamine Zeroual (57) announced that he would step down by Feb 1999
following early elections.
(WSJ, 9/14/98, p.A28)
1998 Sep 13, Algerian security
forces said 27 people were killed in Zougala in Ain Defla province.
Other sources said 38 people were killed.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.C2)
1998 Sep 16, Algeria was
rebuked for abuses by its security forces by a UN report. Amnesty
Int’l. called the report a whitewash.
(WSJ, 9/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 4, US and Algerian
navies conducted a small joint search-and-rescue exercise in the
Mediterranean.
(SFC, 12/3/98, p.A17)
1998 Oct 30, The UN extended
its 460-member peacekeeping force in the Western Sahara over land
contested between Morocco and the Algerian-based Polisario Front.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A15)
1998 Nov 29, In Algeria 7
people were killed by suspected Muslim militants on the eve of
Ramadan in 4 separate attacks in the western mountains.
(SFC, 11/30/98, p.B10)
1998 Dec 8, In Algeria 45
people were killed in Tadjena. Armed groups attacked three villages
in the area and killed a total of 81 people. Security forces dug up
46 bodies from a well at a farm in Meftah, 10 miles from central
Algiers.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.A12)(SFC, 12/12/98, p.B1)
1998 Dec 10, In Algeria the
death toll for the month reached 200.
(WSJ, 12/11/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 14, In Algeria Prime
Minister Ahmed Ouyahia resigned.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 27, In Algeria armed
groups attacked 2 villages and killed at least 30 people at Khenis
Miliana and Ain N'Sour.
(SFC, 12/29/98, p.A8)
1998 Charles-Robert Ageron
authored "Modern Algeria: A History from 1830 to the Present." It
was translated by Michael Brett.
(WWW, Amazon, 12/19/98)
1998 The Algerian
Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) was created in a split
with the radical Armed Islamic Group, or GIA. The dissidents
reportedly were discontent with civilian massacres carried out by
the GIA.
(AP, 5/15/03)
1999 Jan 19, In France 8 men
were sentenced to prison for providing arms and logistics to the
banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria.
(SFC, 1/20/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 24, In Algeria Muslim
rebels slashed the throats of 9 people and kidnapped 2 women near
Blida. The victims included a mother and her 2 children.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 14, In Algeria 6 of
the 7 presidential candidates withdrew to protest fraud in the early
stages of voting. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the remaining candidate, was
backed by the generals who have ruled since 1962. The vote was meant
to end the civil war that has killed 75,000 people since 1992.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.C3)(WSJ, 4/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 15, Algeria held
elections. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was left alone in the race after 6
competitors withdrew over allegations that the vote was rigged. A
60% turnout was reported. Bouteflika said he would turn down the
post without a massive turnout and a large majority support.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A5)(SFC, 4/16/99, p.A18)
1999 Apr 16, In Algeria
protests broke out in Algiers, Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia over the
elections. Abdelmalek Sellal, the Interior Minister, said Bouteflika
received over 7.4 million votes, 70% of the 10.5 million votes cast.
Sellal said 60% of the eligible voters cast ballots, but others said
the turnout was under 25%.
(SFC, 4/17/99, p.A10)
1999 May 23, In Algeria men
armed with guns and bombs attacked a village near Medea and killed
10 people.
(SFC, 5/24/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 6, In Algeria the
Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) declared an end to their guerrilla
struggle. The 2,000 member group had been observing a cease-fire
since 1997.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 11, In Algeria 14
people were killed by an armed group in Sidi Naamane.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 26, Algeria’s Pres.
Bouteflika announced a plan for thousands of political prisoners to
be granted amnesty in a plan for "civil concord." The proposed
amnesty law excluded those with "blood on their hands."
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 27, In Algeria the
president raised the death toll in the 7-year civil war against
rebel groups to 100,000.
(WSJ, 6/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 11, The senate
approved Pres. Bouteflika's amnesty law for the Islamist rebels. It
still required voter approval.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 20, Algerian
government sources said rebels had cut the throats of 9 villagers in
Medea province.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 15, In Algeria an
armed group killed 29 people near Beni Ounif.
(SFC, 8/16/99, p.A10)
1999 Sep 15, Algeria held a
referendum on Pres. Bouteflika's amnesty law. Voters endorsed the
plan.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.C3)(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D6)
1999 Nov 20, In Algeria some 20
people were killed in a clash between guerrillas and security forces
south of Algiers.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A15)
1999 Nov 22, Abdelkader Hachani
(43), a leader of the Islamic Salvation Front who spoke for peace
and reconciliation, was assassinated in Algiers.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A15)
1999 Dec 2, In Algeria 16
alleged Islamic militants were killed by government soldiers near
Chlef, 148 miles west of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 11, In Algeria 15
people were massacred outside Blida. Many of the victims were burned
alive in a van.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B3)
1999 Dec 13, In Algeria
militants attacked and killed 11 nomads in the desert town of
Taghit, 620 miles southwest of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B3)
1999 Dec 14, In Seattle Ahmed
Ressam (32), an Algerian, was arrested after crossing the border at
Port Angeles from Canada with a car trunk with over 150 pounds of
bomb-making materials that included 200 pounds of urea, timing
devices and a bottle of RDX, cyclotrimethylene trinitramine.
Canadian authorities later issued an arrest warrant for Abdelmajed
Dahoumane for possessing or making explosives. Dahoumane was
arrested in Algeria In Oct, 2000. In 2001 Ressam admitted that he
planned to detonate a bomb at the LA Int’l. Airport. Mokhtar Haouari
provided fake ID and $3,000 to Ressam. Haouari was sentenced to 24
years in prison in 2002. In 2005 Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in
prison.
(SFC, 12/18/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/20/99, p.D3)(SFC,
12/25/99, p.A3)(SFC, 12/30/99, p.A5)(SFC, 12/7/00, p.C10)(SFC,
5/30/01, p.A5)(SFC, 1/17/02, p.A12)(SFC, 7/28/05, p.A3)
1999 Dec 15, In Algeria
suspected Islamic militants killed 11 government soldiers and
wounded 22 others near Chlef, 148 miles west of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 22, An Algerian
accused of trying to smuggle nitroglycerin and other bomb-making
materials into the United States from Canada pleaded innocent in
Seattle to all five counts of a federal indictment. Ahmed Ressam was
convicted in April 2001 of terrorist conspiracy and eight other
charges.
(AP, 12/22/04)
1999 Dec 22, In Algeria a 5.8
earthquake struck near Oran and at least 20 people were killed and
75 injured.
(SFC, 12/23/99, p.C7)
1999 Dec 24, In Algeria Islamic
militants killed 29 people at a roadblock near Khemis Miliana, some
50 miles west of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A14)
1999 Algeria, Libya and
Tunisia agreed to share the northwest Sahara aquifer system (NWSAS).
(Econ, 10/9/10, p.87)(http://tinyurl.com/25w5boa)
1999 France finally called the
Algerian conflict a "war." Prior to this France referred only to
operations to "maintain order.”
(AP, 11/29/05)
2000 Jan 11, Algeria’s Pres.
Bouteflika gave a blanket pardon to all members of the Islamic
Salvation Army 2 days before a deadline for all Islamic militants to
lay down their arms.
(SFC, 1/12/00, p.A11)
2000 Jan 13, In Algeria the
deadline for the surrender of Islamic militants expired.
(SFC, 1/14/00, p.A14)
2000 Jan 29, In Arris, Algeria,
11 community guards were killed by Islamic militants of the Salafist
Group for Preaching and Combat led by Hassan Hattab.
(SFC, 2/1/00, p.B2)
2000 Feb 6, In Algeria army
troops killed 27 Islamic militants. 23 were killed near Sidi Bel
Abbes and 4 along with one government soldier near Ain Defla.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.a14)
2000 Feb 28, In Algeria an
armed group massacred 20 people, shepherds and their families, near
Brezina.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 29, The Algerian army
began a crack down on Islamic militants following the massacre of 25
shepherds near Brezina. Over the next 3 weeks they killed 35
militants around El-Bayadh and Ghardaia.
(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 27, The Muslim holiday
of Ramadan began.
(SFC, 11/28/00, p.A2)
2000 Dec 9, In Algeria 5
soldiers and an assailant were killed in an ambush near Tissemsilt.
Another 3 local guards were killed in Boghar and the attacks
continued the next day.
(SFC, 12/12/00, p.B2)
2000 Dec 12, Ethiopia and
Eritrea signed a peace pact in Algiers. A 4,200 UN peacekeeping
force was set to patrol the border. Pres. Zenawi and Pres. Afwerki
signed the accord, which established a commission to mark the
620-mile border, exchange prisoners, returned displaced people and
hear claims for war damages.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)(SFC,
12/13/00, p.B3)
2000 Dec 16, In Algeria armed
gunmen shot to death 15 students and a security guard at the Lycee
Technique of Medea boarding school.
(SFC, 12/18/00, p.E6)
2000 Dec 20, The media reported
that violent deaths during Ramadan had reached 250.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.C2)
2001 Jan 9, In Algeria 4
Russian engineers went mushroom picking in the forest of Edough and
were found with their throats cut 2 days later.
(SFC, 1/10/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 17, Attackers killed a
dozen people at a roadblock west of Algiers and shot to death 5
people at a café south of the city.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 18, In Algeria 23
shepherds and farmers were killed in the Dahra region by armed
assailants.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 19, In Algeria gunmen
killed 11 family members in Medea.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D4)
2001 Jan 28, In Algeria an
armed group killed 2 dozen people in Oued Fares in the Chlef region.
16 of the dead were children.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A14)
2001 Mar 18, In Algeria weekend
attacks by suspected Islamic militants left 5 people dead and 23
injured.
(SFC, 3/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Apr 18, In Algeria a
Berber teenager died while being held in a police station.
(SFC, 6/20/01, p.A9)
2001 May 3, In Algiers
thousands of protesters demonstrated against what they called a
government crackdown on ethnic Berbers.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 14, In Algeria
hundreds of thousands of people protested in Algiers over economic
and political issues and 2 journalists were killed in clashes with
riot police.
(SFC, 6/15/01, p.A18)
2001 Jun 18, In Algeria’s
Kabyle region 3 police officers were killed and dozens injured in
riots provoked by the April 18 death of a Berber teenager in a
police station.
(SFC, 6/20/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 19, Algeria banned
protests in the capital following 2 months of unrest that had left
at least 55 dead.
(WSJ, 6/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 12, In Algeria
assailants attacked a convoy of farmers and slashed the throats of
17 people in Oule-d-Bouaza.
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 29, In Algiers a bomb
exploded in the Casbah and 34 people were injured.
(SFC, 8/30/01, p.A12)
2001 Sep 26, Spain detained 6
Algerians with alleged links to Osama bin Laden and a group planning
attacks on US targets in Europe.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 26, In Algeria
suspected Islamic militants killed 22 people in Larbaa. 12 of the
dead were killed while celebrating a wedding.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 4, Algeria’s Pres.
Bouteflika promised to recognize the Berber language, compensate
victims of police brutality and prosecute police involved in
brutality.
(WSJ, 10/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 11, A 36-hour storm
hit Algeria and 337 people were reported killed. It was the worst
flooding in 20 years. The death toll reached 580.
(SFC, 11/12/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/12/01, p.A1)(SFC,
11/17/01, p.A24)
2002 Feb 9, In Algeria security
forces killed Antar Zouabri, head of the Armed Islamic Group, and 2
other insurgents in Boufarik.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Apr 1, In Algeria Islamic
militants killed 21 government soldiers in Moulay Larbi, 280 miles
SW of the capital.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A7)
2002 May 30, In Algeria
legislative elections for the 380-seat parliament were held. 2 key
parties planned to boycott as did many ethnic Berbers of the Kabylia
region. Islamic militants massacred 23 nomads. Berber riots took
place. The national Liberation Front of PM Ali Benflis won 199 of
389 seats. The turnout was just 46%.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A7)(SFC, 5/31/02, p.A12)(SFC,
6/1/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 11, In Algeria alleged
Islamic militants opened fire on a bus, killing 11 people. Ten
others were wounded.
(AP, 6/12/02)
2002 Jun 22, In Algeria
shootings and bombings blamed on Islamic militants have killed seven
people and wounded 35 others over the last two days.
(AP, 6/22/02)
2002 Jul 5, A bomb ripped
through an open-air market in Larba, 15 miles SE of Algiers on
Algeria's independence day, killing 49 people and wounding 36
others.
(AP, 7/5/02)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A6)(AP, 7/7/02)
2002 Aug 16, In Algeria Islamic
insurgents reportedly killed 26 people, including women and
children, in a rural western hamlet.
(AP, 8/16/02)
2002 Aug 24, It was reported
that Algerian elite soldiers, backed by artillery and helicopters,
killed 16 suspected Islamist rebels during a week-long operation
against guerrillas east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 8/24/02)
2002 Oct 10, In Algeria Prime
Minister Ali Benflis' party swept local elections, with voting in
the restive Berber region marred by a boycott, riots and attacks on
police officers. The National Liberation Front gained control of 668
out of 1,541 town councils and took 43 of 48 district councils.
(AP, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 24, In Algeria
attackers killed 21 members of the same family, including a
three-month old baby, in a massacre that bore the hallmarks of
Islamic extremists.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Nov 23, An Algerian
militant group suspected of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
killed nine soldiers in violent clashes east of Algiers. Four police
officers were killed 2 days earlier in Bourmedes.
(AP, 11/24/02)
2002 Dec 3, In western Algeria
6 soldiers and 6 suspected Islamic militants were killed during
fighting in the Stamboul forest.
(AP, 12/8/02)
2002 Dec 12, In western Algeria
a bomb exploded at an outdoor market, killing four people and
wounding 16.
(AP, 12/12/02)
2003 Jan 4, In Algeria Islamic
militants (GSPC) ambushed a military convoy in the northeast village
of Theniet el-Abed. 43 soldiers were killed and 19 wounded.
(AP, 1/5/03)
2003 Jan 5, In Algeria rebels
killed 13 people form 2 families near the capital in Zabana.
The Armed Islamic Group was suspected.
(AP, 1/5/03)
2003 Jan 29, The body of
Abdelmalek Benbara (41), a member of the Algerian prime minister's
party reported missing Jan 17, was found in a car in Paris.
(AP, 1/30/03)
2003 Feb 25, Striking
government workers brought much of Algeria, but not its lucrative
oil fields, to a halt, with no public transport and few flights.
Suspected Islamic extremists fired machine guns at cars at a
roadblock, killing 12 people.
(AP, 2/25/03)(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Feb 26, In Algeria
it was reported that more than 7,000 people were believed missing at
the hands of security forces during the 1990s.
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Mar 6, An Air
Algerie Boeing 737 jet crashed killing 102 passengers and crew in
the southern Algerian province of Tamanrasset. At least 1 person
survived.
(AP, 3/6/03)(SFC, 3/7/03, p.A14)
2003 Apr 4, In Algeria 8
Austrian tourists were reported missing. Searchers using camels and
helicopters equipped with heat-seeking sensors were already scouring
the Sahara Desert for 21 tourists, mostly Germans, who vanished in
Algeria over the past six weeks.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A8)
2003 May 2, Mohammed Dib,
novelist and poet, died outside Paris. He was one of Algeria's best
known writers but had left the country for France in 1959.
(SFC, 5/6/03, p.A16)
2003 May 6, Six Algerian
soldiers were killed when suspected Islamic fighters bombed their
vehicle and sprayed the survivors with gunfire.
(AP, 5/7/03)
2003 May 13, Algerian army
commandos freed 17 European tourists kidnapped in the Sahara Desert
by an al-Qaeda-linked terror group, the Salafist Group for Preaching
and Combat. 9 captors were killed and 15 hostages remained.
(AP, 5/14/03)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.44)
2003 May 21, In Algeria a 6.7
earthquake struck near Algiers. More than 2,200 people were killed
and thousands injured. Thenia, 40 miles east of Algiers, was worst
hit.
(SFC, 5/22/03, p.A1)(AP, 5/25/03)(SFC, 5/27/03,
p.A12)
2003 May 24, Furious crowds
hurled debris and insults at Algeria's president Abdelaziz
Bouteflika when he visited a town devastated by a deadly earthquake.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 Jun 30, In Algeria a
military plane slammed into a house west of the capital, killing at
least 12 people, including women and children on the ground.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 4, In Algeria
suspected Islamic militants killed Lawmaker Rabah Radja and three
other people at a roadblock east of the capital.
(AP, 7/5/03)
2003 Aug 18, A six-month ordeal
for 14 European tourists kidnapped by Islamic extremists while on
desert safaris in Algeria has ended with their release to officials
in neighboring Mali.
(AP, 8/19/03)
2003 Sep 27, The Algerian army
reported that it had killed 150 armed Islamic militants in a
two-week operation in the eastern foothills of this north African
country.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Nov 27, Talal
al-Rasheed, a prominent Saudi poet, was shot to death by attackers
while on a hunting trip in Algeria.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2004 Jan 19, In Algeria an
explosion at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex in the port city
of Skikda killed 23 and left 74 people injured.
(AP, 1/20/04)(WSJ, 5/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 8, Algeria held
elections seen as a turning point toward democracy for the North
African nation after a bloody Islamic insurgency. President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected with 83% of the vote, but his
challenger cried foul and promised to appeal.
(AP, 4/9/04)(SFC, 4/10/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 22, Algerian officials
said the Salafists, a rebel group linked to al Qaeda, were in
surrender talks to end a 12-year Islamic insurgency.
(WSJ, 4/23/04, p.A1)
2004 May 14, Algerian officials
reported that 13 of the countries 48 provinces were infested with
swarms of desert locusts.
(ST, 5/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 2, In eastern Algeria
insurgents ambushed an Algerian military convoy night, killing at
least 10 soldiers and wounding 45 others.
(AP, 6/2/04)
2004 Jun 5, French engineering
giant Alstom said a consortium it was leading had signed an
88-million-euro ($107 mil) contract for work on three railway lines
in the suburbs of Algiers.
(AP, 6/6/04)
2004 Jun 17, Algerian troops
killed one of North Africa's most-wanted terrorist leaders, who
allied his group with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Nabil
Sahraoui (also known as Abu Ibrahim Mustapha), one of his key
right-hand men and a "good number" of other Salafist lieutenants
were killed in a military sweep.
(AP, 6/20/04)(SFC, 6/21/04, p.A6)
2004 Aug 11, In Algeria an
appeals court upheld a two-year prison term for one of Algeria's
best known journalists in a case seen by many as a pretext to crush
press freedom.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Sep 6, Algeria's largest
Islamic rebel group with ties to al Qaeda said it has appointed a
new chief, known as an explosives expert, as it tries to regroup
following the loss of key leaders in recent gun battles with
authorities.
(Reuters, 9/6/04)
2004 Sep 29, In northern Norway
an Algerian asylum seeker on a commuter plane attacked both pilots
and a passenger with an ax as the aircraft was landing.
(AP, 9/29/04)
2004 Oct 22, Suspected Algerian
Islamic militants killed 16 people near Medea in the first attack on
civilians since the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 25, Suspected Islamic
militants decapitated three soldiers in Algeria in an upsurge of
violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 28, Amar Saifi, one of
North Africa's most wanted Islamic militant leaders, was taken into
custody in Algeria. The No. 2 leader of the Salafists is accused in
the kidnapping of 32 European tourists last year.
(Reuters, 10/29/04)(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 4, Algerian Islamic
rebels killed two policemen in the latest attack during the holy
month of Ramadan.
(Reuters, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 13, Severe storms sank
one ship and drove two aground near Algiers port, killing three
seamen. About 20 sailors remained missing.
(Reuters, 11/14/04)
2004 Dec 11, Said Barkat,
Algeria’s Agriculture Minister, said almost 170 million euros (225
million dollars) have been spent since 2003 dealing with locust
infestation of farmland.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 16, Farouk Ksentini,
an Algerian government-appointed official, said security forces
members are believed responsible for the deaths of 5,200 civilians
who disappeared during a decade-long struggle with Islamic rebels
and should face justice.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 25, Algeria's Energy
Minister Chakib Khelil said exports of oil and gas will bring in
over 31 billion dollars (24 billion euros) in 2004.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, In eastern Algeria
a gas explosion killed 17 people and injured at least 40 others when
a residential block collapsed.
(Reuters, 12/26/04)
2005 Jan 1, Algeria was
forecast for 8.2% annual GDP growth with a population at 33.9
million and GDP per head at $2,360.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.93)
2005 Jan 3, The Algerian
Interior Ministry said security forces had arrested the leader of
the Armed Islamic Group, the radical insurgency movement responsible
for brutal village massacres several years ago, and killed his
replacement. The arrest of Nourredine Boudiafi and the killing of
Chaabane Younes were near-fatal blows to the seriously weakened GIA,
as the movement is known. Islamic extremists killed 18 people in an
ambush of an army convoy south of the capital Algiers.
(AP, 1/4/05)(AFP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 16, Algeria's
government signed an agreement to end years of conflict with the
restive Berber minority, pledging to accept long-standing demands
including greater recognition of the Berber language.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Mar 12, Algeria's minister
for energy and mines said OPEC has reached its production limit, and
trying to stretch output by one million barrels per day isn't likely
to lower oil prices.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Apr 13, Algerian Islamic
militants killed five people, including three security force
members, and injured eight others in attacks ahead of an expected
general amnesty.
(Reuters, 4/14/05)
2005 May 17, In Algeria 3
soldiers and 2 militants were killed during an air and ground
offensive by government forces against Islamic rebels in the
mountains east of the capital.
(Reuters, 5/19/05)
2005 Jun 14, A senior US
military official said up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in
Iraq are from Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic
extremists in northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 25, Algerian militant
Amari Saifi, a leader of the al-Qaida-linked Salafist Group for Call
and Combat, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for helping
to create a terror group. He was considered the mastermind of the
2003 kidnapping of 32 European tourists in the Sahara desert.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun, The Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative began operations. The US funded plan
intended to provide military equipment and development aid to 9
north-east African countries considered fertile ground for Muslim
militant groups. Participating countries included Algeria, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia.
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 21, The chief of
Algeria's diplomatic mission, Ali Belaroussi, and fellow envoy
Azzedine Belkadi were seized at gunpoint from the upscale Mansour
district of western Baghdad. In an Internet statement 2 days later
al-Qaida in Iraq said it was responsible.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 26, Al-Qaida in Iraq
said it had condemned to death two Algerian diplomats who were
abducted in Baghdad. A video made public showed the men blindfolded
and in captivity.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Aug 14, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika unveiled a draft charter for peace and national
reconciliation that will be put to a referendum on September 29.
(AFP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 19, In Algeria Islamic
militants killed six hikers in the forests of Ravin Bleu in the
Batna region, 530 kilometers east of Algiers.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Algeria Al
Qaeda-aligned Islamic militants killed 10 people, including seven
soldiers, in separate ambushes. The ambushes were blamed on the
GSPC, which is split on whether to support a September 29 referendum
on a partial amnesty in exchange for laying down their arms.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 29, Algerians voted on
a peace plan the government says will help turn the page on a brutal
Islamic insurgency that left an estimated 120,000 dead. Critics,
however, say the plan will whitewash past crimes.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 30, Official
referendum results showed Algerians overwhelmingly approved a peace
plan that provides a broad amnesty for Islamic extremists, but which
critics denounced as a whitewash of crimes committed during a bloody
internal war. The Charter on Peace and National Reconciliation
granted a broad amnesty to militants and offered some financial
compensation to families of at least 6,000 “disappeared.”
(AP, 9/30/05)(Econ, 10/8/05, p.56)
2005 Oct 1, A banned Algerian
Islamic group with ties to al-Qaida rejected an amnesty for Islamic
militants, saying in a statement on its Web site that it had no need
for a government peace plan.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union
leaders from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and
Senegal met in Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the
challenges of the global order: Desirability of union government,"
with the leaders discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Dec 20, In Algeria the
facade of a dilapidated hotel collapsed in Algiers, killing eight
people and injuring 21 others.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2006 Jan 11, Samir Ait Mohamed,
an Algerian-born man accused of helping in the plot to bomb the Los
Angeles airport on the millennium, was quietly deported from Canada
after years fighting for refugee status there.
(AP, 1/13/06)
2006 Feb 12, In Algiers Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met with senior government leaders on
what Pentagon officials said they believe to be the first visit to
Algeria by a US defense secretary.
(AP, 2/12/06)
2006 Feb 14, The UNHCR said the
floods last week left more than 50,000 Sahrawi refugees homeless,
destroying up to half of the mud-brick houses in their camps of
Awserd, Smara and Laayoune in the Tindouf region of western Algeria.
Tents, blankets and other emergency aid were being rushed to the
camps in the Algerian Sahara hit by rare torrential rains.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Mar 1, Algeria said it
will release more than 2,000 Islamist ex-fighters soon under an
amnesty to promote reconciliation after years of conflict in the
oil-exporting country.
(Reuters, 3/2/06)
2006 Mar 4, Algeria began
releasing former Islamist fighters from prison, fulfilling an
amnesty aimed at promoting national reconciliation after more than a
decade of conflict.
(Reuters, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 5, In Algeria a young
man injured three police officers and was then killed by a policeman
in Zeralda, a suburb of Algiers, triggering riots in which youths
attacked public buildings.
(AFP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 11, Algeria signed a
$7.5 billion deal with visiting Pres. Putin for Russian fighter
aircraft, tanks and anti-aircraft missiles.
(Econ, 2/10/07,
p.45)(http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/2-2006/item3/item2/)
2006 Mar 18, In Algeria Farouk
Ksentini, the head of the government human rights body said up to
200,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamic insurgency.
(AFP, 3/18/06)
2006 Mar 21, An earthquake hit
the northeast Algerian town of Laalam east of Algiers killing at
least four people and injuring 53.
(AFP, 3/21/06)
2006 Apr 7, In southern Algeria
gunmen attacked a convoy of customs agents traveling through the
desert, killing 13 and wounding eight others.
(AP, 4/7/06)
2006 May 13, In Algeria
security forces found 28 bodies, most of them children, in a
secluded cave used as a hideout by an Algerian Islamic militant
group.
(AP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 24, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika appointed Abdelaziz Belkhadem as the country's
prime minister.
(AFP, 5/24/06)
2006 Jun 24, Algeria’s state
news reported that Algeria had agreed with Canada for early
repayment of its debt totaling some $255 million, the eighth such
accord with creditor countries since mid-May. Algeria has signed
accords covering 3.25 billion of an estimated $8 billion. Apart from
Canada, they cover France (1.6 billion), Portugal (20 million), the
Netherlands (45 million), Belgium (225 million), Denmark (54.3
million), Austria (396 million) and Spain (690 million). Agreements
would be concluded this week with Sweden, for $11 million, and
Finland for 15 million. The main creditors still outstanding include
Italy, which is owed $1.7 billion, and the United States, 1.2
billion.
(AFP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jun 25, Algerian soldiers
launched a major assault on a hideout of Islamic insurgents, killing
19 militants, including the regional emir, Merouani (40).
(AP, 6/26/06)
2006 Jun 28, Published remarks
by Algeria’s Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said about
200 Islamist fighters have so far surrendered under an amnesty aimed
at ending years of violence.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Sep 14, Current and former
French officials specializing in terrorism said that an al-Qaida
alliance with the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known
by its French initials GSPC, was cause for concern. Al-Qaida's No.
2, Ayman al-Zawahri, announced the "blessed union" in a video posted
this week on the Internet to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept.
11 attacks in the United States.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Oct 2, Italian police said
they had smashed an Algerian Islamic fundamentalist cell that gave
logistical support to suspected militants in Algeria.
(Reuters, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 15, Algerian Energy
Minister Chehib Khelil said that the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries will announce a 1 million barrel a day cut in
crude production during a meeting in Qatar.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Algeria 3
people were killed and 24 wounded in near-simultaneous truck bomb
attacks overnight on two police stations in Reghaia town, 30 km (20
miles) east of the capital, and the eastern Algiers suburb of
Dergana. Witnesses called it the most elaborate assault by Islamist
rebels in several years.
(Reuters, 10/30/06)
2006 Nov 2, Algerian rebels
shot dead 8 soldiers in an ambush in the heaviest reported
government losses for seven months in the north African country's
lingering political violence.
(Reuters, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Algeria 7
members of the security forces were killed in an ambush during a
cleanup operation in a forest used as a hideout by Islamic
extremists, and 13 others were injured, four of them seriously.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 15, Algeria agreed to
repay ahead of schedule its total debt to Germany, 372 million
dollars, due to the oil-rich country's surge in revenues. Algeria
will invest 70% of the saved interest, about 67 million dollars, 52
million euros, through 2011, in a water supply project for the
western city of Tlemcen and the Maghnia-Ghazaouet region.
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 18, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika appealed for private investment in the North
African country as he opened the 10th congress of Arab businessmen
in Algiers.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 28, Ten suspected
Islamist militants were killed in clashes with the Algerian army,
which was conducting sweeps in remote mountainous regions.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 10, In Algeria
assailants hurled a bomb and shot at two vehicles transporting
employees in the town of Bouchaoui, 9 miles west of Algiers. The
Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French acronym
GSPC, claimed responsibility for the attack.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Algeria’s state of
emergency was prolonged for a 14th year.
(Econ, 9/2/06, p.44)
2007 Jan 26, The last Islamic
militant group still fighting in the 16-year-old civil war against
Algeria's government said in an Internet statement posted that it
had changed its name to highlight its allegiance to the Al-Qaeda
network. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) said
that it was changing its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on the orders of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden.
(AFP, 1/26/07)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.38)
2007 Feb 13, In Algeria 7 bombs
went off almost simultaneously, killing six people east of the
capital Algiers in an elaborate assault by suspected Islamist
rebels. The Salafist group Call and Command claimed responsibility
under its new name: al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa.
(Reuters, 2/13/07)(SFC, 2/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Feb 19, An official said
Algeria has translated the Koran into the Berber language,
Tamazight, for the first time, to promote Islam among a community
that has long campaigned for more language and cultural rights.
(Reuters, 2/19/07)
2007 Mar 3, In Algeria 4
workers from Russia and Ukraine and three Algerians were killed in a
bomb attack on a bus near the town of Ain Defla, south of the
capital Algiers.
(AFP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In Algeria
suspected Islamic militants attacked a police checkpoint with
rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, killing five officers
and wounding three others.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 10, A flash flood
killed six people in southern Algeria when torrential rains caused
wadis to overflow, while high winds brought down trees and walls.
(AFP, 3/10/07)
2007 Mar 22, Rafik Khalifa
(40), the head of a bank at the centre of Algeria's biggest
corruption scandal, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
Khalifa has been exiled in London since 2003, when hundreds of
millions of dollars was discovered missing from the Khalifa Bank.
Algeria has been seeking his extradition. The exiled former governor
of the central bank, Abdelawahab Keramane, and five others were also
sentenced in abstentia to 20 years in prison.
(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Algeria an
international desertification conference closed with a call (dubbed
the Algiers Appeal) to all African countries to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol, to help slow the rapid expansion of deserts on the
continent.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 7, Suspected Islamist
militants opened fire on a military patrol in northwestern Algeria,
starting a gunbattle that left nine soldiers and six attackers dead.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Algeria bombs
heavily damaged the prime minister's office in Algiers and a police
station, killing 33 people and wounding over 200.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 16, Hassan Hattab, the
founder of the group that claimed responsibility for last week's
deadly Algiers bombings, called on militants to put down their
weapons under a government amnesty and stop trying to turn Algeria
into a "second Iraq." Hattab made the comments in a published letter
to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 May 8, Algeria’s El-Watan
newspaper reported that authorities have arrested 5 people believed
responsible for organizing deadly terrorist attacks last month.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 10-2007 May 11, Seven
Islamic extremists and two members of Algeria's security forces were
killed in the violent run-up to parliamentary elections.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In eastern Algeria
6 armed Islamist extremists were killed in Kabylia, in clashes with
the military in the run-up to legislative elections. Algeria's
official news agency APS said Algerian security forces had arrested
three Libyan Islamic militants planning to join al Qaeda's north
African wing. Algerian soldiers killed four armed militants in a
clash near the village of Ghoumrassa.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Al Qaeda-linked
Algerian rebels facing stepped up assaults by the army set off a
bomb killing three soldiers including an officer east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Algerian troops,
stepping up assaults on al Qaeda's north African wing after suicide
bombings last month, killed 13 Islamist fighters east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, In Algeria bombs
killed a police officer and wounded five other people on the eve of
parliamentary elections, prompting fears of renewed Islamist
extremism.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, Algerians, shaken
by al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombings and dealing with a tough
economy, slowly trickled to vote in legislative elections under
tight police security.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, Algeria’s Interior
Ministry announced that the National Liberation Front party, which
has dominated Algerian political life since independence in 1962,
kept its leading position in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 19, Algerian official
news reported that security forces had dismantled a suspected
support network linked to twin terror bombings last month in the
capital that killed 30 people.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Algeria Hassan
Hattab, fugitive founder of the extremist Salafist Group for
Preaching and Combat (GSPC), was sentenced in absentia to life in
prison for setting up an armed terrorist group by a court in
Tizi-Ouzou.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Algeria one
person was killed and 8 injured in a powerful bomb blast in the
Kabylie region.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 9, Officials from
Algeria and the US signed a protocol agreement which will pave the
way towards closer cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 10, Algerian security
forces said they have arrested 13 minors and dismantled a suspected
training camp used by an al-Qaeda linked group east of the capital
Algiers.
(AFP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 19, The Algerian
government approved a plan to set up an academy of the Amazigh
language, spoken by the Berber minority, many of whom live in
Kabylie in the mountainous north of the country.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 22, Algerian soldiers
shot and killed six armed Islamists near Algiers, while two guards
died in homemade bomb blasts at a gas pipeline southeast of the
capital.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun, Algeria began
construction on a $425 million hybrid power plant at Hassi R’mel. It
will use sun and natural gas to generate 150 megawatts, 25 of which
will come from solar panels, beginning in 2010. Solar panels were
already in use for 18 off-grid Sahara villages.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A25)
2007 Jul 6, EU officials said
they have asked Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to join patrols of
Europe's border control agency in a bid to stop massive clandestine
immigration.
(AFP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 7, A court in
Algeria's Kabylie region sentenced Said Sahnoun, a correspondent for
newspapers in sub-Saharan Africa, to 10 years in prison for spying
for Israel.
(Reuters, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 7, Algeria's state oil
and gas company and KBR Inc., a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary,
signed a $2.88 billion deal for a liquefied natural gas plant.
(AP, 7/7/07)
2007 Jul 11, In Algeria a
suicide bomber blew up a refrigerated truck loaded with explosives
at a military encampment outside Algiers, killing 10 soldiers and
wounding 35.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 14, In Algeria about
50 members of the Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb
attacked two police stations in Yaourene village in Tizi Ouzou
province, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Algiers. The Algerian army
halted the attack and killed 4 in the northeastern Kabylie region.
(Reuters, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 21, Security sources
said a week-long offensive by Algerian special forces in a
mountainous area east of Algiers has killed between eight and 11
Islamist militants.
(AFP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 22, Niger's PM Seyni
Oumarou and military chiefs met neighboring Algeria's President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika to discuss cross-border cooperation against
Tuareg-led rebels in Niger's desert north.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 25, Miguel Angel
Moratinos, Spain’s Foreign Minister arrived in Algeria on a visit
aimed at strengthening cooperation in energy and sorting out a row
with Madrid's top gas supplier.
(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Aug 4, Algerian newspapers
reported that the army, stepping up a counter-offensive after
attacks by al Qaeda's north Africa wing, has killed around 16 of the
group's fighters in the past three days.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Sep 1, The industry
ministry of Algiers announced that Algeria is inviting bids to
privatize 13 companies in the electronics, iron, and public works
sectors.
(AP, 9/2/07)
2007 Sep 6, In Algeria a bomb
ripped through a crowd waiting for the Algerian president to arrive
in Batna, killing 22 people and injuring more than 107.
(AFP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 8, A booby-trapped car
exploded at a barracks housing coast guard officials, killing 30
officers in Algeria's second terror attack this week. Al-Qaida in
Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility. The suicide bomber was
reported to be a 15-year-old student.
(AP, 9/8/07)(AP, 9/9/07)(AP, 9/10/07)
2007 Sep 14, In Algeria a bomb
hidden in a bag exploded outside a compound housing police officials
in Zemmouri, killing three people.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 21, A bomb attack near
a city east of Algiers injured two French citizens, one Italian and
six Algerians, including five police.
(AFP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 24, In Algeria 3 civil
guards were killed when their patrol was ambushed by an armed group
in Tassedane in the eastern region of Mila. A serviceman was killed
and five others injured when several homemade bombs exploded in
scrubland at Ma-Labiod.
(AFP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 28, In Algiers an
Arab-language daily reported that Hassan Hattab (40), one of the
most hardline guerrilla chiefs opposed to Algeria's government, has
surrendered. Hattab, aka Abou Hamza, founded the Salafist Movement
for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 1998. Al Hayat, based in London,
reported that Hattab was "arrested on September 22 by Algerian
security services.
(AP, 9/29/07)
2007 Oct 6, Sofiane el-Fassila
(b.1975), an alleged mastermind (alias Hareg Zoheir, Zobeir Harkat)
of several recent suicide bombing attacks in Algeria, was shot dead
with 2 suspected accomplices in the town of Boghni. He was the
deputy chief of al Qaeda's North Africa wing and believed to be the
group's operational leader. Security officials said 8 soldiers and
four Islamic extremists have been killed in the last few days in
eastern Algeria.
(AFP, 10/6/07)(AP,
10/10/07)(www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071011/world.htm#8)
2007 Oct 12, In Algeria a
police officer was assassinated in one of two attacks in the
northern Tizi Ouzou region. At about the same time, five soldiers
were injured when Islamists fired at a military checkpoint near the
neighboring town of Boghni.
(AFP, 10/15/07)
2007 Oct 13, In Algeria 4 armed
Islamists were killed by security forces near the town of Thenia,
about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Algiers.
(AFP, 10/15/07)
2007 Oct 20,
France handed Algeria details of where its forces laid some 3
million landmines on the country's eastern and western borders from
1956-1959.
(AFP, 10/20/07)
2007 Oct 27, Algerian security
sources said the army killed 17 Islamist rebels during security
operations in the east of the country over three days this week.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2007 Nov 5, Ten Islamic
fundamentalists convicted of a terrorist attack were sentenced to
death in their absence by an Algerian court. The group was behind a
bomb attack on a police patrol in June 2003 in which nine officers
were killed.
(AFP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 10, In Algeria 3
people were wounded when a booby trapped car exploded near a police
residence in the northern town of Mahatmas.
(AFP, 11/11/07)
2007 Nov 14, Abdelhamid
Sadaoui, also known as Abou El Haythem, was killed and another
Islamist wounded during clashes with the Algerian army in the
restive northeastern Kabylia region. Sadaoui was believed to be the
treasurer of Al-Qaeda's North African branch.
(AFP, 11/16/07)
2007 Nov 17, In eastern Algeria
a gas explosion in an old house killed six people and injured
another eight.
(AFP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 18, British ambassador
Andrew Anderson said Algeria has formally demanded the extradition
from Britain of former Algerian bank chief Rafik Khalifa, sentenced
to life over a massive embezzlement scandal.
(AP, 11/18/07)
2007 Nov 27, In Algeria
officials said floods caused by days of torrential rain have killed
11 people, injured several others and have cut off many roads in
northern Algeria.
(AFP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 29, Algeria's ruling
National Liberation Front (FLN) won local elections on a turnout of
43 percent.
(AFP, 11/30/07)
2007 Dec 1, Officials said a
week of heavy rains in northern Algeria caused the death of 15
people, while three more people are missing feared dead.
(AFP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 3, Ten people believed
to be Algerian asylum seekers drowned while a Dutch ship tried to
rescue them in stormy Mediterranean waters. Two men survived the
ordeal.
(AP, 12/5/07)
2007 Dec 4, France and Algeria
agreed to cooperate on civilian nuclear technologies. French oil
group Total said it had signed a deal to invest about 1.5 billion
dollars in a new 3.0-billion-dollar (2.0 billion euros)
petrochemical plant in Algeria.
(AFP, 12/4/07)(AP, 12/4/07)
2007 Dec 11, In Algeria car
bombs exploded minutes apart in central Algiers, heavily damaging UN
buildings and ripping the facade off the wing of a government
office. 37 people were killed, including 17 UN employees. Two
convicted terrorists who had been freed in an amnesty carried out
the suicide bombings at UN and government buildings. The interior
ministry later said the blasts were the work of the El Farouk
Brigade, which was responsible for a number of other attacks in the
last two years. Al-Qaida's self-styled North African branch claimed
responsibility.
(Reuters, 12/11/07)(AP, 12/12/07)(AP,
12/13/07)(AFP, 2/6/08)(AP, 12/11/08)
2007 Dec 26, A roadside bomb
targeting a police patrol exploded east of Algeria's capital,
killing two officers and injuring two others. The attack came as
authorities rounded up 11 suspected members of two suspected support
networks for armed Islamic militant groups in recent days.
(AP, 12/27/07)
2008 Jan 2, In Algeria a car
bomb exploded near a police station in Naciria east of Algiers,
killing at least four people and ripping off the building's
façade.
(AFP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 8, In Algeria an army
commander and three members of the security forces were killed
during an operation aimed at flushing out an Islamist group in
scrubland in the north of the country. The sweep, aided by
helicopters, was intended to flush out a group of 10-15 new recruits
to the Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb group, who were intent on
launching attacks on Constantine.
(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 19, In Algeria an
armed Islamist was killed in a clash with anti-terrorist security
forces at Tebessa, near the Tunisian border while a fourth man died
at Jijel, also in the east. His weapon was seized.
(AFP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 20, In Algeria 2 armed
suspects died in the Eddough mountains, near the eastern city of
Annaba, after they failed to follow orders to surrender.
(AFP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 28, Abderrahmane
Bouzegza, leader of the Dec 11 attacks in Algiers, was killed by the
army at Boumerdes, east of the capital. 4 others responsible for the
attacks were arrested in February.
(AFP, 2/6/08)
2008 Jan 29, In northern
Algeria a car loaded with explosives and headed for a police station
exploded after officers stopped the attack with bullets. At least
two people were killed and 23 wounded.
(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Feb 7, In eastern Algeria
suspected Islamist militants gunned down eight police officers in a
late night ambush outside the village of Ain R'Ghiya. In a separate
morning attack, another officer was killed and one injured in the
village of Boukalfa.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 17, In Algeria African
Union energy ministers launched a new energy organization for Africa
tasked with coordinating policy for the resource-rich continent.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 26, In Algeria the
"emir" Hamza (alias Abdi Abdi), a suspected leader of al-Qaida's
local affiliate, was killed during the sweep in the town of Legatha.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 27, French ambassador
Bernard Bajolet said France has handed Algeria details of
radioactive leaks from nuclear tests in the Algerian desert in the
1960s and should have acted earlier to clean up the damage.
(Reuters, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 29, Algerian security
forces chased some 30 Islamic insurgents planting roadside bombs
back into their refuge east of the Algiers.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Mar 1, Algerian troops
called in helicopters and assaulted a hideout with rockets and
helicopter fire, killing 25 members of an al-Qaida affiliate in
North Africa.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Mar 7, Algerian
authorities seized 2 tons of cannabis on the border with Morocco. 2
more tons were seized Mar 3. The total was valued at around 4
million euros.
(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 8, In Algeria Al
Qaeda's wing in north Africa said in an Internet posting that it has
killed 20 Algerian soldiers and wounded 30 in clashes in its eastern
stronghold, where the army has launched a campaign against the
rebels.
(Reuters, 3/9/08)
2008 Apr 14, Algeria, the
world’s 4th largest gas exporter, said it will and stop signing long
term gas contracts and switch to shorter term ones.
(WSJ, 4/15/08, p.A14)
2008 Apr 27, A summit aimed at
kick-starting Maghreb economic integration was disrupted when
Moroccan and Algerian government ministers clashed over the disputed
Western Sahara region.
(AFP, 4/28/08)
2008 May 11, In Algeria 6
government troops died in an ambush allegedly by armed members of
the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) as the soldiers
were in a truck patrolling Medea province.
(AFP, 5/13/08)
2008 May 12, In Algeria 3
government troops were killed in an ambush allegedly set by the
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) 120 kilometers (75
miles) east of Algiers in Bouira province.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2008 Jun 3, Four Algerian
Christians received suspended jail terms and fines for seeking to
convert Muslims in the latest in a series of cases to have provoked
accusations in the West of religious repression.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 4, In Algeria 2
simultaneous bombs in Bordj El Kiffan, a suburb of Algiers, killed a
suicide bomber and injured six others. The blasts targeted a
barracks and a seaside café.
(AP, 6/6/08)
2008 Jun 5, In Algeria a bomb
attack blamed on Islamist militants killed six Algerian soldiers and
wounded four in Cap Djinet, east of Algiers.
(AFP, 6/6/08)
2008 Jun 8, In Algeria 2 bombs
exploded at a railway station east of Algiers reportedly killing 13
people. Officials the next day said only 2 people, a French engineer
and his driver, were killed in the bombings.
(Reuters, 6/8/08)(AP, 6/9/08)
2008 Jun 13, A Spanish judge
jailed six Algerians on provisional charges of aiding terror groups
linked to al-Qaida in North Africa.
(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 23, Algeria's
president named Ahmed Ouyahia, a pragmatist known for his tough line
against Islamic extremists, as the country's prime minister, his
third stint in the post.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun, Algeria’s
mobile-telephone market rose to some 28 million, up from 1.4 million
four years earlier. Two-thirds of the market was run by Egyptian and
Qatari firms.
(Econ, 6/14/08, p.64)
2008 Jul 13, Algeria’s
government newspaper El Moudjhaid said a consortium of British-based
oil services company Petrofac and Indonesian engineering company
IKPT provisionally won a contract to build an LNG plant in western
Mediterranean port of Arzew.
(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 17, Algeria and
Germany wound up two days of talks in Algiers with a call for more
economic cooperation between the two countries.
(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, In Algeria a truck
and a bus collided on one of the main highways in the Relizane
region killing 7 people with 28 seriously injured.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, The US Treasury
moved to freeze assets of four Algerians it said were leaders of an
al Qaeda-affiliated group responsible for deadly bombings in Algeria
last month.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Algeria the
government of Mali and ethnic Tuareg rebels reached a truce
agreement in dangerous northern Mali. One faction of the Tuareg
group refused to sign the deal, saying it did not do enough to help
the Tuaregs.
(AP, 7/22/08)
2008 Jul 30, Morocco's King
Mohammed VI condemned Algeria's continuing closure of their common
border, despite repeated calls by Rabat for it to be reopened.
Algiers has set a global settlement of the conflict in Western
Sahara as a precondition for reopening the border, which it closed
in 1994 after Morocco claimed Algerian secret service agents were
behind an Islamist extremist attack in Marrakesh.
(AFP, 7/30/08)
2008 Jul, Sofiane Hadarbache, a
former Guantanamo inmate, was sent back to Algeria. He was picked up
by US forces outside of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in 2001 and sent
to the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was
held through July 2008. On Nov 4, 2010, an Algerian court acquitted
Hadarbache of charges that included belonging to a terrorist group
operating abroad and counterfeiting.
(AP, 11/5/10)
2008 Aug 3, In Algeria 21
people, six of them policemen, were injured in a suicide car bomb
attack in the town of Tizi Ouzou in Algeria's Kabylie region.
(AFP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 7, In Algeria 18
people were reported dead from a crash between a van and a bus near
the city of Mascara, and 25 were reported injured. Three men who
were in critical condition subsequently died.
(AFP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Algeria 12 armed
Islamists, including a number of individuals considered among the
leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, were killed overnight by the
army in an ambush near Beni Douala, near Tizi Ouzou.
(AFP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 9, In Algeria a
suicide car bomb attack on security forces killed at least eight
people and injured 19 others in the coastal town of Zemmouri el
Bahri, east of Algiers, the second such blast this month.
(AFP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 14, A colonel in the
Algerian army and another soldier were killed in a bomb attack in
the Jijel region.
(AFP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 17, In eastern Algeria
rebels linked to al Qaeda had killed eight policemen, three soldiers
and a civilian in successive ambushes. 4 Islamist militants were
killed in the attack.
(AFP, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 19, A suicide car bomb
attack east of Algiers killed 43 people and wounded 45. The attack
targeted a paramilitary gendarmerie training school at Issers. Most
of the dead were young men aged between 18 and 20.
(Reuters, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 20, In eastern Algeria
2 car bomb attacks killed at least 11 people in Bouira with at least
31 people wounded. This followed a suicide bomber who killed 43
people a day earlier.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 24, Algerian security
forces killed 10 Islamist rebels in a security operation southwest
of the capital.
(Reuters, 8/25/08)
2008 Aug 26, The Pentagon said
two men were cleared for release to Algeria from Guantanamo, Cuba,
where about 260 detainees remained.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Sep 28, In Algeria a
suspected suicide bombing killed three people and wounded six in a
village east of Algiers.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep, From Algeria Andrew
Warren, a CIA station chief and a convert to Islam, was sent back to
the United States after two women came forward with charges of rape
after lacing their drinks with a drug.
(AP, 1/29/09)(SFC, 7/1/09, p.A4)
2008 Oct 1, Two days of
torrential rains in the Algerian desert created flash floods. 43
deaths were later confirmed.
(AP, 10/2/08)(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Oct 7, Algerian PM Ahmed
Ouyahia said there had been 250 million euros worth of damage,
largely to infrastructure, from the recent flooding.
(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Oct 12, Algeria announced
it will spend 500 million euros (675 million dollars) on protecting
towns from flooding as the death toll from floods this month rose to
43.
(AFP, 10/12/08)
2008 Nov 2, Dubai Port World
(DP World) said it has agreed on a deal to run the cargo terminal in
the Algerian port Djendjen. The port, which opened in 1993, is the
most commercially important in Algeria.
(AFP, 11/2/08)
2008 Nov 5, In Algeria Fateh
Bouchibane, mayor of Timezrit in the Kabylie region, was abducted
and killed.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 12, Algeria's
parliament overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments that
abolish presidential term limits, paving the way for President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika to seek a third term in spring elections.
(AP, 11/12/08)
2008 Nov 17, Algeria and
Argentina signed an agreement to boost cooperation over civil
nuclear energy as part of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's
tour of northern Africa.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, OPEC, meeting in
Algeria, said it is cutting 2.2 million barrels a day from its
output, the largest ever at one time, to stem crude prices that have
plummeted over 70% from summer highs of nearly $150. Members among
the 13-nation organization were officially producing a daily 29.045
million barrels in September.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, Algerian news
reports said Raked Brahim (28) was convicted and jailed for three
years for traveling to Iraq in 2007 to take part in attacks against
US forces. He was detained in Syria and later deported back to
Algeria.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2009 Jan 16, An Algerian
customs officer was killed by armed Islamists west of Algiers. The
35-year-old official had his throat slit after being stopped at a
fake barricade put up and manned by about 10 armed Islamists at
Miliana near Ain Defla.
(AFP, 1/17/09)
2009 Jan 17, The US Department
of Defense announced that it transferred six detainees out of
Guantanamo, leaving about 245 at the offshore prison. Four detainees
were sent to Iraq, one to Algeria and one to Afghanistan. Since
2002, more than 525 detainees have departed Guantanamo. Haji
Bismullah (29) of Afghanistan had always insisted that he was no
terrorist.
(AP, 1/18/09)(SFC, 1/19/09, p.A4)
2009 Jan 30, In Algeria at
least 27 people were wounded and several buildings torched during
clashes among Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in Ghardaia.
(AFP, 1/31/09)
2009 Feb 1, Algerian newspapers
reported that Ali Ben Touati, a leading member of Al-Qaeda's North
African branch, has surrendered to Algerian authorities.
(AFP, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 12, In eastern Algeria
2 bombs exploded hours after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
announced he will run for a new term, killing at least seven people.
(AFP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 15, A series of
attacks in Algeria left seven soldiers and a suspected militant
dead, as authorities ratcheted up efforts to secure the country
before presidential elections. An Algerian newspaper reported that
security forces killed a senior member of Al Qaeda's north African
wing after a tip-off from a former militant led them to his hideout.
The daily Ennahar reported that Mourad Bouzid (65), also known as
Ami Slimane, was a charismatic figure instrumental in recruiting and
motivating younger Al Qaeda fighters.
(AP, 2/16/09)(Reuters, 2/15/09)
2009 Feb 18, Al Qaeda's
Algeria-based branch (AQMI) claimed it is holding two missing
Canadian diplomats hostage. UN envoy Robert Fowler and his aide
Louis Guay, went missing in the West African country of Niger last
month.
(SFC, 2/19/09,
p.A2)(www.thestar.com/printArticle/589398)
2009 Feb 22, In eastern Algeria
9 members of a private security firm were killed when Islamist
militants attacked their base near Jijel.
(AFP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 28, In Algeria an army
operation in the mountains of Blida province, about 100 kilometers
(62 miles) south of Algiers killed 6 Islamist militants. One
militant was killed on Feb 26 before the army took the rest of the
group by surprise. Another 16 were reported killed during a search
operation near Soulahane.
(AFP, 3/2/09)(AFP, 3/3/09)
2009 Mar 7, In Algeria 2 people
were killed and five others wounded in an attack on the barracks of
security forces at Tadmait near Tizi Ouzou east of the capital.
(AP, 3/7/09)
2009 Mar 10, In Algeria border
guards seized 3.5 tons of cannabis in a desert region close to the
frontier with Morocco.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 11, In eastern Algeria
suspected Islamist extremists shot and killed a police officer and
wounded another in a shoot-out near Batna city. 3 armed Islamists
were killed by the security forces in Souk El-Thenine town.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 14, In Algeria
Islamists cut the throat of a shepherd and 300 of his sheep in
Chatabia village near the Tunisian border. Three family members and
an elected official died in a bomb explosion the following morning
as they headed to the site of the killing.
(AFP, 3/16/09)
2009 Mar 16, At least two
Algerian soldiers were killed when their convoy was hit by roadside
bombs in the east of the country.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 24, The French
government offered for the first time to compensate victims of
nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific, bowing to decades of
pressure by people sickened by radiation.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Apr 9, Algerians voted in
a presidential election that is expected to give the incumbent
Abdelaziz Bouteflika another five years to try to quell terrorism
and reform the North African country's lackluster economy, which is
heavily dependent on oil and gas. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won
90.24% of the vote.
(AP, 4/9/09)(Reuters, 4/10/09)
2009 Apr 10, In Algeria
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika hailed his landslide re-election for
a third term as a "lesson in democracy," but opposition politicians
and independent media alleged fraud at the polls, and the US
government expressed concern.
(AP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 11, Morocco blamed
Algeria for a "serious and blatant" violation by the Polisario Front
of an 18-year-long ceasefire in the disputed Western Sahara and
urged the UN to intervene.
(Reuters, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 13, Algeria’s
constitutional council officially declared Abdelaziz Bouteflika
re-elected as president of Algeria for a third mandate with 90.23%
of the vote on a turnout of 74.56%.
(AFP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 19, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika vowed to pursue national reconciliation, after
being sworn in for a third five-year term.
(AP, 4/19/09)
2009 May 7, In Algeria 4 armed
Islamists were killed by Algerian security forces during firefights
in Tizi Ouzou and Boumerdes, east of the capital Algiers. Two
soldiers died as well, and three assault rifles were seized by the
military. Another Islamist was killed as security forces mounted a
joint operation on an armed group at Kharrouba, near Boumerdes.
(AFP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 26, In Algeria 9
soldiers were killed near Biskra, 425 kilometers south of the
capital, in n ambush which wounded 10 others.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 2, In Algeria an
estimated 30 Al-Qaida-linked militants killed two teachers and eight
police escorts as they brought copies of tests back from an
examination center in the town of Timezrit, 49 miles east of
Algiers.
(AP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 12, In Algeria at
least five members of an Islamist militant group were killed near
Constantine, as well as several Islamist clan chiefs in different
regions.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 13, Algeria's national
oil company Sonatrach announced it had awarded a 79.3-billion-dinar
(1.11-billion-dollar, 793-million-euro) contract to the Canadian
engineering firm SNC-Lavalin to build natural gas processing
facilities.
(AFP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six
African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people,
and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in
the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria,
and Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 17, In southeastern
Algeria Islamist rebels ambushed a military convoy and killed at
least 18 gendarmes and one civilian in the deadliest attack on
government forces in the last six months. In 2011 a criminal court
sentenced six people to death for the attack, for which Al-Qaeda
claimed responsibility.
(AFP, 6/18/09)(SFC, 6/19/09, p.A2)(AFP, 1/29/11)
2009 Jul 3, Algeria, Niger and
Nigeria signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan
gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.
(AFP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jul 6, The 2nd Panafrican
Festival opened in Algiers and was scheduled to last to July 20. The
first Panafrican Festival took place back in 1969.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 20, Algeria’s Ministry
of Transport said the Chinese civil engineering group CCECC has won
3 contracts worth a total of 1.46 billion euros to build railways in
Algeria.
(AFP, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 22, The Algerian
government issued a decree effective as of August shifting the dates
of the weekend to Friday and Saturday in a move viewed as a boost
the North African nation's faltering economy. Algeria had observed
its weekends on Thursdays and Fridays since 1976 as do a few other
countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Jul 25, In Algeria five
Islamists were killed by the army about 15 km (nine miles) east of
Tizi Ouzou.
(AFP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 26, In northwestern
Algeria members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb killed two local
security officers in an ambush in the Mascara region.
(AFP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 27, Algerian papers
reported that security forces have killed five armed Islamic
extremists in the northeastern Tizi Ouzou region, about 100 km (60
miles) east of Algiers.
(AFP, 7/27/09)
2009 Jul 28, Algeria's coast
guard arrested 19 illegal migrants in a dinghy off the western town
of Arzew, near Oran, as they tried to reach Europe.
(AP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 29, The Algerian media
reported that the army has killed 16 Islamist extremists in separate
operations in recent days. The bodies of eight Islamists were
discovered on July 27-28 near Batna, 435 km (270 miles) southeast of
Algiers, after army shelling followed by a ground operation. 3 other
armed Islamists were killed in two ambushes near Tizi Ouzou, 110 km
(70 miles) east of the capital, on July 27-28. At least 11 Algerian
soldiers were killed in an ambush by Islamic extremists while they
escorted a military convoy in an Algerian tourist region outside the
coastal town of Damous. Five Islamists were killed when the soldiers
shot back.
(AFP, 7/29/09)(AFP, 7/30/09)
2009 Aug 15, In northern
Algeria an explosion followed by gunfire left one police officer
dead and two others wounded at a beach. A head-on collision between
a lorry and a minibus killed 16 people on the outskirts of the city
of Ghazaouet, including more than a dozen members of the same family
traveling together.
(AFP, 8/15/09)
2009 Sep 2, In Algeria
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for closer economic ties
with Algeria, notably in the energy sector, during a two-day visit
here.
(AFP, 9/3/09)
2009 Oct 4, Algerian
coastguards picked up 45 Algerian would-be migrants to Europe at
three places off the coast west of Algiers.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Algeria 10
suspected Islamists and 3 soldiers were killed in a fierce gunbattle
near the Great Erg, the world's largest sand dune, when a convoy of
heavily armed militants was attacked by the Algerian army.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 27, Algeria and
Britain signed a new defense agreement. An embassy spokeswoman said
"This outline agreement aims to regularize cooperation between the
two countries in defense matters, particularly the training of
Algerian officers in Great Britain."
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 29, Algerian security
forces seized 3.5 tons of cannabis as well as weapons and two
all-terrain vehicles in the south of the country.
(AFP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 12, Italy's top
security official said that authorities have smashed an
international terror cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in
Europe of 17 Algerians who were raising money to finance terrorism.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 14, Three would-be
migrants drowned, one was rescued and 10 were missing off the
Algerian coast after their boats sank on their way to Europe.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 18, Egyptian fans were
attacked after Algeria won (1-0) a make-or-break World Cup
qualifying game in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and offices of
Egyptian companies in Algeria were ransacked after a matchup in
Cairo over the weekend.
(AP, 11/19/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.52)
2009 Nov 22, An Algerian court
acquitted 2 men who had been held for seven years in the US military
prison in Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of belonging to an extremist
group. Faghoul Abdelli and Mohamed Terari were arrested in Pakistan
after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US and transferred to
Guantanamo Bay where they were held without trial before being sent
home to Algeria last year.
(Reuters, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 29, An Algiers court
sentenced Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian Guantanamo inmate who refuses
to be sent home, to 20 years in prison for belonging to an "overseas
terrorist group." Belbacha, who has been held at the US prison camp
since February 2002 following his arrest in Pakistan, has been
deemed by US authorities as no longer an "enemy combatant" and
cleared for release to Algeria. Belbacha said that he fears torture
at home and refuses to be repatriated. Instead, he has requested
political asylum in the United States.
(AFP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Algerian health
organization (AnisS) warned that thousands of its people are
unknowingly infected with the AIDS virus and called for more testing
and prevention efforts.
(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 29, A security source
said Algerian border guards have seized more than four tons of
cannabis following a skirmish with smugglers.
(AF, 12/29/09)
2010 Jan 4, In Algeria an
Algerian employee of Canadian construction firm SNC-Lavalin was
kidnapped by insurgents southeast of Algiers. The engineer was freed
on Jan 7.
(Reuters, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 7, In Algeria a
stand-off with police began in the industrial town of Rouiba after
the 5,000 employees of the state-owned National Company of
Industrial Vehicles (SNVI) started an indefinite strike action to
demand higher wages and better terms.
(AP, 1/7/10)
2010 Jan 9, Algerian security
forces killed 10 Islamist rebels in an ambush in the region of
M'sila, 400 km (250 miles) east of Algiers. A "large quantity" of
weapons were seized during the operation. Islamists looted and
burned a Protestant church, suggesting they were inspired by a
recent spate of religious intolerance in the Arab and Muslim world.
(Reuters, 1/10/10)(AP, 1/11/10)
2010 Jan 10, In Algeria a
collision between a bus and a truck killed 15 people and injured
another 15 on a major highway in the Ghardaia region in the Sahara
desert.
(Reuters, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 11, Algeria's foreign
ministry said it had summoned the US ambassador to "strongly
protest" the North African country's placing on a 14-nation terror
watch list drawn up by the Obama administration.
(AFP, 1/11/10)
2010 Jan 13, The head of
Algeria's national oil corporation Sonatrach was suspended from his
job and ordered to appear before investigators probing corruption.
Mohamed Meziane was replaced in his job by vice-president Abdelhafid
Feghouli.
(AFP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 27, In western Algeria
the Oran criminal court sentenced eight people to jail terms for
drug trafficking. Six of the convicted men were sentenced to 20
years, a seventh to life and the eighth, who was on the run, was
also sentenced to life, after the seizure in 2008 of two tons of
cannabis resin at Bechar in the southwest.
(AFP, 1/28/10)
2010 Feb 25, In Algeria a
police official shot dead Colonel Ali Tounsi, the national police
chief, during a blazing row in his office in central Algiers.
(AFP, 2/25/10)
2010 Mar 10, In Algeria almost
200 striking doctors, dentists and pharmacists demonstrated near the
presidential palace to press their pay demands. The health
professionals have been on strike since the end of December.
(AFP, 3/10/10)
2010 Mar 16, Seven north
African states held talks in Algeria to plan a coordinated response
to Al-Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in the
Sahara-Sahel region.
(AFP, 3/16/10)
2010 Apr 19, Algeria's Energy
Minister Chakib Khelil said 11 major natural gas exporting countries
have decided to work towards a long term plan to index prices with
oil.
(AFP, 4/20/10)
2010 Apr 21, The Algerian
Defense Ministry said Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger are
opening a joint military headquarters in the Algerian city
Tamanrasset, in a united effort to combat terrorism and kidnapping
in northwestern Africa. The Committee of Joint Chiefs (CEMOC) was
based in Tamanrasset.
(AP, 4/21/10)(AP, 12/20/11)
2010 May 14, In Algeria a
moderate earthquake killed two people and injured 43 others.
(AFP, 5/15/10)
2010 May 14, The Algerian army
killed three armed Islamic militants in the east of the country.
Several weapons, including two semi-automatic rifles, were seized in
the operation.
(AFP, 5/15/10)
2010 May 25, In Algeria Atmane
Touati, alias Abu El Abbas, became one of four members of al-Qaida
in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQMI, to turn himself in after his wife
"convinced her husband to abandon the criminal horde and come home."
(AP, 5/31/10)
2010 May 30, Algeria's
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, amid a growing corruption scandal,
fired the CEO and all top managers at Sonatrach, the state-owned oil
firm that dominates the North African country's economy.
(AP, 5/31/10)
2010 Jun 11, In Algeria a
suicide bomber rammed a truck into the barracks of an elite police
unit in a village east of Algiers. At least nine people died,
including four police officers and one Chinese worker.
(AP, 6/11/10)
2010 Jun 30, In Algeria Al
Qaeda-linked militants killed 11 Algerian paramilitary police in the
oil-rich state's deadliest attack in a year.
(AFP, 7/1/10)(SFC, 7/1/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 6, Algerian security
forces killed three Islamist militants in a shoot-out southeast of
the capital Algiers.
(AP, 7/6/10)
2010 Jul 18, Gitmo detainee
Aziz Abdul Naji (35), held for over 8 years, was transferred to
Algeria, despite his request to remain under US detention for fear
of torture and death at home. On July 25 Naji was indicted in
Algeria and placed under judicial supervision.
(SFC, 7/21/10, p.A2)(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 Jul 25, In Algeria a
suicide bomber killed at least one person in the eastern Kabylie
region by driving a car rigged with explosives into a building used
by security forces. Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa soon claimed
responsibility for the suicide bombing.
(AP, 7/26/10)(AFP, 7/29/10)
2010 Aug 15, In Mali 2
survivors of a failed journey said 12 African nationals trying to
illegally enter Europe died from thirst and hunger in the Algerian
desert.
(AFP, 8/15/10)
2010 Aug 19, In Algeria storms
left a trail of damage across the country killing at least seven
people over the last 2 days.
(AFP, 8/19/10)
2010 Aug 28, Algerian forces
killed 8 al-Qaida insurgents during clashes in the Berrekmouche
valley, a mountainous area considered a bastion for the terror
network's North African branch. One soldier was killed. Helicopter
bombardments continued into the next day.
(AP, 8/29/10)
2010 Sep 1, In Algeria 2
soldiers were killed and dozens injured after a suicide bomber blew
up a vehicle packed with explosives by a military convoy near the
capital Algiers.
(AFP, 9/2/10)
2010 Sep 21, In Algeria a bomb
exploded in the centre of Bordj Menaiel town, as a police patrol
passed, killing two policemen and wounding three civilians.
(AFP, 9/21/10)
2010 Sep 30, Algerian daily
Al-Watan said spy chiefs from four north African countries (Algeria,
Mauritania, Mali and Niger) have set up a center for joint
operations against Al Qaeda in the Sahel region during a meeting in
Algiers.
(AFP, 9/30/10)
2010 Sep 30, Egyptian telecom
giant Orascom Telecom said its Algeria unit has been hit with a $230
million preliminary tax reassessment, marking a new and increasingly
acrimonious chapter in the company's relations with the North
African nation.
(AP, 9/30/10)
2010 Oct 6, Russia’s President
Dmitry Medvedev headed a top level business delegation to Algeria,
seeking to use his clout to push through delicate energy and
telecoms deals with a traditional Moscow ally. Algeria and Russia
signed six deals in sectors including energy and transportation.
(AFP, 10/6/10)(AP, 10/6/10)
2010 Oct 11, The emir of Kuwait
arrived in Algeria for a two-day visit on the latest step of a north
African tour.
(AFP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 12, In Algeria 5
people were killed when a remote control bomb exploded on a
construction site in Tlidgen.
(AP, 10/13/10)
2010 Oct 18, An Algerian court
sentenced Bouchouta Fares (27) to two years in prison for breaking
the fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan late in August. He was
also fined 100,000 dinars (€972, $1,359) for "breaching a precept of
Islam." Practicing a faith, Muslim or otherwise, is conditional in
Algeria on obtaining a document stating the place of worship and
another giving the name of the preacher, under a law passed in
February 2006.
(AFP, 10/21/10)
2010 Nov 2, Algeria’s interior
minister Dahou Ould Kablia said that Algeria will resume a policy of
arming people to reinforce the fight against terrorism in the north
African country.
(AP, 11/3/10)
2010 Nov 5, Algeria’s newspaper
El-Watan Week-end reported that local police have dismantled a group
of currency forgers who put more than 48 million euros in fake
banknotes on to the market.
(AFP, 11/5/10)
2010 Dec 10, Algerian troops
killed 10 Islamist rebels in the eastern Kabylie region known as a
stronghold of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
(Reuters, 12/11/10)
2010 Algeria’s population stood
at about 35 million.
(Econ, 5/29/10, p.50)
2011 Jan 1, Somali pirates
hijacked the MV Blida, a Greek-operated, Algerian-flagged bulk
carrier. The crew included 17 Algerians, six Ukrainians including
the captain, two Filipinos, an Indonesian and a Jordanian. On Oct 12
Algeria announced that pirates have released 2 of the ship’s 27
crewmen on humanitarian grounds. The MV Blida was released on Nov 3
after a bag full of money was parachuted down to the pirates from a
plane.
(Econ, 2/5/11, p.69)(AFP, 10/12/11)(AP,
11/3/11)(AFP, 11/20/11)
2011 Jan 6, Fresh unrest struck
Algeria as protests over rising costs and unemployment spread after
a night of rioting in the capital in which youths attacked a police
station and torched shops.
(AFP, 1/6/11)
2011 Jan 6, The US military
said that it has sent a Guantanamo prisoner back to his native
Algeria over the objections of his attorneys who said he feared
being tortured in his homeland. Saiid Farhi had been held without
charge at the US base in Cuba for nearly nine years. 173 prisoners
remained at Guantanamo.
(AP, 1/6/11)
2011 Jan 7, In Algeria fresh
rioting broke out in Algiers as police deployed around mosques and
authorities suspended soccer championship matches after violent
protests over food prices and unemployment. Two demonstrators died
in the spreading unrest over rising food prices.
(Reuters, 1/7/11)(AP, 1/8/11)
2011 Jan 8, In Algeria Fresh
protests erupted against soaring food prices as the government
considered measures to limit the cost of staple foodstuffs to quell
the unrest. 2 people were already dead and 400 injured in protests
across the country since Jan 6. The government announced that it
will cut the cost of sugar and cooking oil.
(Reuters, 1/8/11)(SSFC, 1/9/11, p.A5)
2011 Jan 9, Algerian
authorities vowed to punish those responsible for nationwide food
riots in which at least four people were reported killed and more
than 800 injured.
(AFP, 1/9/11)
2011 Jan 13, In Algeria Mohsen
Bouterfif doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire after a
meeting with the mayor of the small city of Boukhadra who was unable
to provide him a job and a house. Bouterfif died on of his burns on
Jan 15.
(Reuters, 1/16/11)
2011 Jan 18, Algeria’s El
Khabar daily said a father-of-six became the fifth Algerian to turn
himself into a human fireball this week, in a replica of the
immolation protest that triggered the president's ouster in
neighboring Tunisia.
(AFP, 1/18/11)
2011 Jan 19, In Algeria 3
people attempted suicide by fire, bringing the total number of such
actions to eight in a week, in a replica of protests that ousted the
president of neighboring Tunisia.
(AFP, 1/19/11)
2011 Jan 22, In Algeria riot
police clashed with protesters in Algiers as they broke up a banned
pro-democracy rally amid mounting public grievances that have
fuelled fears of Tunisia-style unrest. Karim Bendine (35) died in a
hospital in Douera, a suburb of Algiers, where he was admitted
earlier this week with most of his body covered in third-degree
burns. Seven other Algerians have set themselves on fire since
January 12, apparently inspired by the self-immolation in Tunisia of
26-year-old Mohammed Bouazizi.
(AFP, 1/22/11)(AFP, 1/23/11)
2011 Jan 26, Algeria confirmed
it bought almost a million tons of wheat and ordered an urgent
speeding up of grain imports, a move seen heading off unrest over
food prices as protests swept north Africa.
(Reuters, 1/26/11)
2011 Jan 28, In eastern Algeria
a guard was killed and four people injured in the Kabylie region,
when armed Islamists attacked a barracks.
(AP, 1/29/11)
2011 Jan 29, In eastern Algeria
a criminal court sentenced six people to death for a 2009 attack
that killed 19 people and for which Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
(AP, 1/29/11)
2011 Feb 2, Italian Maria
Sandra Mariani (53) was kidnapped in southeastern Algeria near the
town of Djanet by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Algeria’s
official news agency reported the kidnapping on Feb 4.
(AP, 2/4/11)(AFP, 7/21/11)
2011 Feb 3, Algeria's President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika said the state of emergency, in force for the
past 19 years, will be lifted in the very near future.
(AFP, 2/3/11)
2011 Feb 4, Algerian forces
killed Kamel Bourihane (aka Abou Hafs), a senior Islamic militant.
He was linked with two attacks in 2007 in the capital Algiers that
left dozens dead.
(AFP, 2/6/11)
2011 Feb 6, Algerian newspapers
reported that security services had dismantled an AQIM cell in the
southeast of the country that had been planning attacks in Europe,
in particular in France.
(AFP, 2/6/11)
2011 Feb 7, Algerian
authorities announced they have banned an opposition rally set for
the capital on Feb 12 to call for an end to President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika's rule. Pro-democracy demonstrators said they will go
ahead with the planned march.
(AFP, 2/7/11)(AP, 2/7/11)
2011 Feb 12, In Algeria more
than 400 people were arrested during a pro-democracy protest that
brought some 10 thousand people onto the streets of Algiers. The
marchers urged reforms pushing Algeria toward democracy but did not
specifically call for Pres. Bouteflika to resign. Some 28,000
security forces were deployed to block the march and disperse the
crowds.
(AP, 2/12/11)
2011 Feb 13, Algerian
opposition groups said they would follow up yesterday’s protest by
calling a demonstration in the capital every Saturday until the
government is changed.
(Reuters, 2/13/11)
2011 Feb 14, Algeria’s Foreign
Minister Mourad Medelci said the country’s 19-year-old state of
emergency will end within days, brushing off concerns that recent
protests in the country could escalate as in Tunisia and Egypt.
(Reuters, 2/14/11)
2011 Feb 14, France called on
Algeria to allow anti-government protests, inspired by uprisings in
Egypt and Tunisia, to take place freely and without violence.
(AFP, 2/14/11)
2011 Feb 19, In Algeria riot
police clashed with thousands of pro-democracy supporters who tried
to stage a rally in central Algiers, leaving one Algerian opposition
deputy seriously injured.
(AFP, 2/19/11)(AP, 2/19/11)
2011 Feb 21, In Algeria about
500 students rallied in the capital, part of the wave of unrest in
Arab world to register discontent with national governments. The
students want the government to scrap a new law that dilutes the
value of their diplomas by giving equal status to less-qualified
degree holders in the job market.
(AP, 2/21/11)
2011 Feb 22, Algeria’s
government, in a major concession to opposition groups, adopted a
measure that would lift a 19-year state of emergency.
(SFC, 2/23/11, p.A2)
2011 Feb 24, Algeria officially
lifted its 19-year old state of emergency.
(SFC, 2/25/11, p.A2)
2011 Feb 26, In Algeria
hundreds of demonstrators protested in Algiers to demand the ouster
of President Bouteflika, but police were out in far larger numbers
to counter the protesters.
(AP, 2/26/11)
2011 Mar 7, In Algeria
thousands of auxiliary police marched across the country to demand a
pay raise, breaking through heavy security to reach parliament in a
rare mass show of dissent in the tightly controlled country.
(AFP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 8, In Algeria a bomb
struck a vehicle of bird hunters and killed five of them, in the
deadliest attack in months as the country battles unrest blamed on
Islamist militants.
(AFP, 3/9/11)
2011 Mar 12, Police in Algeria
launched a massive security operation to head off marchers calling
for an immediate end to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's regime.
(AP, 3/12/11)
2011 Mar 16, Algerian police in
Algiers used tear gas to disperse a crowd of young men who were
throwing petrol bombs and stones. The protesters said they had no
political demands but wanted the authorities to give them better
housing.
(Reuters, 3/16/11)
2011 Mar 26, Algerian police
again stifled an attempt by pro-reform activists to rally against
the government in what has become a weekly ritual. It was the eighth
attempt since January by the CNDC to stage a weekly demonstration,
along the lines of pro-democracy protests sweeping the Arab world,
in defiance of a ban on rallies in the capital imposed in 2001.
(AFP, 3/26/11)
2011 Apr 4, In Algeria
auxiliary police, specialist doctors and university students pushed
on with strikes and demonstrations to press demands including for
improved pay and conditions.
(AFP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 15, In Algeria
Islamist extremists attacked an army post and killed at least 13
soldiers watching the Algerian president's televised speech
promising reforms. Two militants in the group were killed by
soldiers at the post in Kabyle. President Bouteflika announced
constitutional reforms "aimed at deepening the democratic process"
amid upheavals.
(AP, 4/16/11)
2011 Apr 23, Algerian police
again stifled an attempt by pro-reform activists to rally against
the government in what has become a weekly ritual.
(AFP, 4/23/11)
2011 May 2, The Algerian press
said security forces have arrested seven men, mainly Algerians and
Moroccans, who are suspected of supporting Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb. Students and riot police fought pitch battles in Algiers,
leaving more than 20 injured as protesters took to the streets
demanding political change.
(AFP, 5/2/11)(AFP, 5/3/11)
2011 May 6, In Algeria a bomb
struck a military convoy on a highway linking Jijel to Constantine,
killing five soldiers and injuring five others. Journalist, Ahmed
Nezar, was shot dead in his hometown of Baghlia.
(AFP, 5/7/11)(Reuters, 5/7/11)
2011 Jun 22, An Algerian court
sentenced a 28-year-old Palestinian to four years in jail for
possession of a banned substance used to make explosives. The
defendant had been arrested by security services last year in
possession of 300 grams of mercury fulminate and crystal rocks.
(AFP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jun 23, In Algeria a bomb
attack on a military patrol killed one soldier and wounded another.
Moustapha Dial, a father of five, was fired upon by troops who
raided a villa in Azazga where he was caretaker and seriously
wounded. He was finished off by another burst of gunfire as he tried
to seek aid. 15 soldiers, including an officer, were later detained
in connection with the accidental killing.
(AFP, 6/25/11)(AFP, 7/5/11)
2011 Jun 25, An Algerian
village was on strike for a second day after a civilian was shot
dead by soldiers in error after a bomb attack on June 23.
(AP, 6/25/11)
2011 Jul 4, In Algeria a
policeman was killed and another wounded during a clash with armed
men in the Kabylie region east of Algiers.
(AFP, 7/4/11)
2011 Jul 11, Air Algerie cabin
crew went on strike. They wanted a 106-percent pay rise and left
thousands of angry travelers stranded in Paris, Marseille and Nice
airports.
(AFP, 7/13/11)
2011 Jul 14, In France
thousands of angry travelers were still stranded in airports and in
Algiers as a strike by Air Algerie cabin crew, who want a 106% pay
rise, went into its 4th day. Air Algerie staff ended their four-day
strike after mediation by the office of PM Ahmed Ouyahia.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 16, In Algeria
security forces in the eastern Boudjellal mountain region shot dead
two gunmen overnight near the border with Tunisia. A suicide bomber
blew up his car in front of a police station at Bordj-Menaiel.
Another suicide bomber drove his motorbike at a crowd near the town
hall of Bordj-Menaiel, killing a police officer and a local
official.
(AFP, 7/17/11)
2011 Jul 25, In Algeria three
suspects, including two would-be suicide bombers, were killed by
security forces around 60km (36 miles) east of Algiers following a
tip-off. The dead included Abdelkahar Belhadj, the son of former
Islamic leader Ali Belhadj.
(AFP, 7/27/11)(AFP, 7/28/11)
2011 Jul 26, In Algeria a
suicide bomber blew himself up to avoid arrest in the eastern town
of Bouhamza, causing no other casualties.
(AFP, 7/27/11)
2011 Aug 14, In Algeria a
suicide bomber crashed a small truck apparently laden with
explosives into a police station in Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the
Kabylie region, injuring 29 people. Kabylie, the Berber capital, is
the stronghold of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. On Aug 17
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility.
(AP, 8/14/11)(AP, 8/18/11)
2011 Aug 26, In Algeria a bomb
explosion followed by a suicide attack outside a military academy
killed 16 officers in training and 2 civilians in Cherchell. Two
Syrian officers were among 18 people killed in the twin suicide
bombing. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb soon claimed
responsibility.
(AP, 8/26/11)(AFP, 8/28/11)(SFC, 8/29/11, p.A2)
2011 Aug 29, Libyan members of
the National Transitional Council announced further steps to
becoming an effective government. Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi, the
rebels' deputy military chief, announced the formation of a
17-member committee to represent the 30 or local military councils
he said had been set up in the country's west. Moammar Gadhafi's
wife, Safiya Gadhafi, her daughter Aisha and sons Hannibal and
Mohammed entered Algeria.
(AP, 8/29/11)(AP, 8/30/11)
2011 Aug 30, Libyan rebels
pledged to launch an assault within days on Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's
hometown. Rebels told Khadafy backers to give up by Sep 3 or face
assault. Gadhafi's daughter gave birth to a baby girl in Algeria.
NATO planes bombed Gaddafi forces near Sirte, targeting tanks and
other armored vehicles as well as military facilities. They also hit
targets in the area of Bani Walid, another Gaddafi stronghold 150 km
southeast of Tripoli.
(AP, 8/30/11)(Reuters, 8/31/11)(SFC, 8/31/11,
p.A3)
2011 Sep 8, In Algeria experts
from some 40 African countries gathered at a conference on
desertification. The 10th session of the decision-making body of the
UN Convention to Combat Desertification opens in South Korea next
month.
(AFP, 9/8/11)
2011 Sep 12, Algeria passed
sweeping media reforms, ending a state monopoly on the broadcast
sector and the imprisonment of journalists for libel. No timetable
was announced, however, putting on hold any new television or radio
stations for now.
(AP, 9/13/11)
2011 Sep 27, Algerian residents
and security officials said troops have killed five militants in a
large operation against hideouts used by Al-Qaeda's regional
franchise east of the capital.
(AFP, 9/27/11)
2011 Sep 27, Spanish police
arrested five Algerians suspected of helping finance an
al-Qaida-linked terror group in North Africa. On Oct 1 they were
freed by a judge who said there was no significant evidence against
them.
(AP, 9/27/11)(AP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 9, Algerian police
arrested roughly 25 unemployed people as they prepared to rally
against joblessness near the presidential compound.
(AFP, 10/9/11)
2011 Oct 16, Internationally
acclaimed Algerian author Boualem Sansal (62) received the annual
German Book Trade Peace Prize and said that people everywhere were
rising up against dictatorship.
(AFP, 10/16/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Algeria gunmen
kidnapped three aid workers, two Spaniards and an Italian, from the
Rabuni refugee camp near Tindouf, injuring one of the hostages and a
local guard in the late night attack. Security sources in Nouakchott
and Bamako later said those responsible belonged to a Sahrawi wing
of the north African Al-Qaeda branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb
(AQIM). Spanish media later identified the Spanish hostages as
Ainhoa Fernandez de Rincon and Enric Gonyalons, who was believed to
be wounded during the kidnapping. The Italian foreign ministry
identified the Italian as Rossella Urru.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AFP, 12/5/11)
2011 Oct 25, Lawyers in Algeria
began a 3-day strike to protest proposed changes in the organization
of the profession which they say will limit their independence and
powers in court.
(AFP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 31, Algiers
inaugurated its long-awaited underground metro system amid much
fanfare after three decades of work interrupted by an oil crisis and
a civil war. Work for Africa's second metro after Cairo began in
earnest in 1982.
(AFP, 10/31/11)
2011 Nov 15, Algerian
newspapers reported that authorities have arrested nine people,
including eight Air Algerie stewards, as part of an operation
against an international drug trafficking ring. The suspects,
including a famous singer and an Air Algerie trade union leader,
have come under pressure to retract statements in which they named
certain clients.
(AFP, 11/15/11)
2011 Nov 17, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika sacked Noureddine Cherouati, the managing
director of state energy giant Sonatrach and gave his job to another
senior official in the firm. Abdelhamid Zerguine, the head of
Sonatrach's subsidiary at Lugano in Switzerland," was named to
replace him.
(AFP, 11/17/11)
2011 Nov 21, In Mali army
chiefs from Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, met in Bamako amid
mounting concerns over the fallout from Libya's conflict on security
in the troubled zone.
(AFP, 11/21/11)
2011 Dec 5, Mauritanian police
said they have arrested two Western Saharan men suspected of
kidnapping an Italian and two Spanish aid workers in Algeria on
October 23.
(AFP, 12/5/11)
2011 Dec 13, Algeria and
Mauritania's leaders vowed to beef up security in the Sahel region,
where Islamist militants, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),
were holding a dozen Western hostages.
(AFP, 12/13/11)
2011 Dec 14, Algeria passed a
media law that drew scorn from journalists, rights activists and
opposition legislators who charged that it restricts freedom of
expression. The law promises press freedom but also lists 12 areas
in which journalists must tread carefully to avoid undermining
Algeria's national identity, sovereignty and security and the
country's economic interests.
(AFP, 12/14/11)
2011 Dec 20, Algerian troops
were reported to have crossed into Mali to help government forces
combat groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda.
(AFP, 12/20/11)
2011 Dec 23, Turkey responded
to French genocide allegations with a charge of its own, accusing
France of committing genocide during its colonial occupation of
Algeria. He alleged that beginning in 1945, about 15 percent of the
population of Algeria was massacred by the French. He also said
Algerians were burned in ovens. Most historians contend the Ottoman
killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians constituted the first
genocide of the 20th century.
(AP, 12/23/11)
2011 Dec 31, In Algeria three
Islamist militants were killed in the northeastern region of Tizi
Ouzou, the scene of frequent attacks by groups affiliated to AQIM.
(AP, 1/3/12)
2012 Jan 2, An Algerian court
sentenced Abdelhamid Abou Zeid (Mohamed Ghdir), one of the most
radical leaders of Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, in his absence to
life in prison for creating "an international terror group." Four
other co-accused were each sentenced to five years in jail. Algerian
security forces shot dead Mohand Ouramdane, a senior operative of Al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
(AFP, 1/2/12)(AFP, 1/3/12)
2012 Jan 8, Algeria said it is
to buy a 51-percent stake in mobile phone operator Djezzy, after
talks with Russian telecoms firm Vimpelcom, the main shareholder in
the group's Egyptian parent company. Djezzy is the largest mobile
operator in Algeria, claiming with over 16 million subscribers last
August. It has been operating in Algeria since 2002.
(AFP, 1/8/12)
2012 Jan 10, Algerian police
fired tear gas on protesters angry over unemployment and housing
shortages in a southern Algerian gas industry town, leaving at least
10 injured.
(AFP, 1/10/12)
2012 Martin Evans authored
“Algeria: France’s Undeclared War.”
(Econ, 12/31/11, p.67)
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End of file.